Shes All That
by SpunkRansom101
Summary: NEEDED:MOTHER FIGURE duties include cooking, helping with homework, driving to and from school/ activities ECT. For interview/ information call 555-968-4563. Beware of Sexy Father, Bitchy Daughter, Adorable Son & Insatiable Friends.
1. Chapter 1

_**She's All That**  
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* * *

_Chapter 1  
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_BPOV  
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___Come on Bella think! Think! _I brought my hands to the keyboard then slammed them down, nothing. This was getting infuriating. It seemed like I couldn't write anymore. It was a very bad case of writer's block. I sighed as I looked out my window. The bustling streets of New York filled through my open window. I looked around. The apartment was dark, the only light coming from my laptop. I got up from my desk and went into the kitchen.

Yes, one of my guilty pleasures, food. I opened the fridge and pulled out some take-out from a couple of days ago. I slurped up some noodles as I walked out to the balcony and took a deep breath. The whole New York City was spread out over me. I leaned on the railing. Let's face it. I, Bella Swan, was lonely. I should have expected it when I abandoned Forks and left for bigger things. So I went off to Ivy League to major in literature. That's how I ended up with one of the biggest publishers in the business. And look what that got me, loneliness.

Maybe that's why I couldn't even write a word to save my life anymore, I was lonely. I'm twenty seven now and still single. Sure I had boyfriends but they were all jerks. It was blocking my writing ability and if I didn't do something quick something bad would happen. My whole inspiration was swirling down the drain.

I sauntered over to the couch, I hated these lonely nights. My glance shot to the news paper as I picked it up and turned on the lamp. I sorted through the paper passing the business and style section, not even giving one glance to sports. There was nothing interesting in the paper until I reached the lat page.

"ADVERTISEMENTS" I looked down at the ads for pool cleaning and lawn service when my eyes tumbled upon one in the corner. "NEEDED: MOTHER FIGURE duties include cooking, helping with homework, driving to and from school/ activities ECT. For interview/ information call 555-968-4563.

Realization hit me; maybe that's what I needed. Maybe I didn't need love maybe I just needed company. I ran to get my phone and quickly dialed in the numbers before I came to my senses.

"Hello?"


	2. Chapter 2

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 2_

_EPOV_

"So, how was school today?" I asked looking at my kids sitting across from me at the dinner table.

Nessi looked at me with disgust and took another bite of her salad. Scott perked up and started bouncing in his seat. "We learned about cursive today daddy!" he said excitedly.

I smiled at my little boy. "Did you enjoy it?"

He nodded quickly. "Mrs. Smith said I had the best writing in the class!"

"That's great Scotty." I laughed.

I heard a scoff from Nessi's side of the table and I raised my eyebrow at her and she looked down at her salad poking at it with her fork. I sighed, ever since she turned twelve she seemed distant and I just never understand her.

"I'm done." Nessi said getting up with her half eaten salad. She didn't give me time to say anything before she stormed off towards the kitchen where I heard a loud crash and feet stomping up the stairs, finally there was a door slam.

"Daddy?" Scotty asked quietly. I looked at him and frowned at his sad face. "Why is Nessi mad all the time?" he questioned timidly.

"Beats me kiddo." I said staring towards the stairs. "You full?" I asked noticing that he hadn't touched his plate in a while.

He nodded and hopped off his chair and started running towards the stairs surprisingly enough without slipping and falling like he usually did. I chuckled and started up the dishes, looking out the window towards our quiet suburb. I loved the town life but when you have kids Westchester, where I'm currently living, is a great place. Good schools, safe neighborhoods everything a parent needs for their kids, of course its extremely expensive, but that's never been a problem for my family before.

I finished quickly needing to tuck my son into bed. He is six years old and one of the brightest that I have seen. Nessi on the other hand is fifteen going on sixteen this year and I was dreading it already I'm only thirty three, yes kind of young but being a single parent, it takes a lot out of you. There's only so much a single dad can take. Shes going to be driving soon… I thought worriedly walking up the stairs.

Scott turned around when he heard me walking into his room and ran to his bed jumping on it.

"Goodnight daddy!" he said.

"Goodnight Scott." I said giving him a kiss on the forehead.

I turned on his nightlight and turned off the room light. Leaving his door open just a crack I left the room and into my own changing out of my jeans and t-shirt for a pair of black lounge pants. I was settled in bed when the phone rang. I reached over and grabbed the phone.

"Hello." I said.

"Hello, I was calling about the ad I found in the paper."


	3. Chapter 3

**_She's All That_**

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_Chapter 3_

_EPOV_

"Hello, I was calling about the ad I found in the paper." A soft melodic voice sounded from the other end. The mention of the ad perked my attention and I sat up.

"The ad? So you're interested?" I asked slightly startled. I had put an ad in the paper inquiring about a mother/wife type figure. I had gotten a few calls, mainly from young women expecting something more along the lines of prostitution I think. That had been a bust.

She laughed slightly from the other end. "Yes actually I am."

"Great!" I said getting up out of searching for a piece of paper and a pen. "I'm sorry I didn't get your name, my name is Edward Cullen. You can call me Edward though."

"Oh right, sorry, my name is Isabella Swan, but you can call me Bella."

"Is there some way we can meet tomorrow, maybe do lunch or something?" I asked hopefully.

I heard shuffling in the background. "Yes actually, my whole day is clear tomorrow so any time is fine for me. Where would you like to meet?"

I thought about it for a moment. I knew I had the day off from the hospital tomorrow. "Why don't you just come over to my house?"

"Sure, where do you live?" she asked. I quickly gave her my address and she said she would be there. Soon enough we hung up and I settled back into bed. No one out there seemed to catch my attention. I dated sure; the single moms out there were all over me, the single doctor/dad, the perfect catch right? I knew my kids needed a mother, but I just couldn't find anyone who was right for me, let alone my children. I decided that maybe I could just hire someone, like a nanny. She would play the mother part and me the father. Mainly a nanny was what I needed, but even then, my daughter would get the best of her and she would quit.

After a while of thinking I finally fell asleep.

The sound of an alarm woke me from my slumber and I rolled over and shut it off. I knew I had to get up to take the kids to school. Nessi loathed the school bus and if I was taking Nessi to school why not take Scott along too?

I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Nessi was chopping up a pear with a Yoplait Light container sitting next to her. She didn't say a word to me, simply ignoring me when I entered the room. That was our usual morning routine, but she never talked to me unless she had to. Scott came bounding down the stairs, not without a few stumbles, but with a big smile on his face he sat himself at the table and I put a bowl of Trix, his favorite, in front of him. For me, some eggs with toast and French Roast coffee.

Nessi didn't bother to sit with us, just standing at the counter on the island eating her breakfast. "So is there anything interesting going on at school today?"

Scott shook his head, milk dribbling down his chin and I reached over with a napkin to wipe it off. "Sex Ed is starting today." Nessi smirked rolling her eyes before walking away and back up the stairs to get ready.

Oh God. I thought. Sex? There is no way in hell any boy is going to be touching my daughter in any way sexual or at all until she's forty five. I mentally screamed.

After Scotty finished I picked him up and carried him upstairs on my back, my own way of working out in the morning. After I helped him get something to wear I went downstairs and waited by the door, lunches in hand. Scotty came down first with his dinosaur backpack with hardly anything in it, swinging back and forth on his back. Nessi came down a few minutes later. Of course she chose to wear something completely inappropriate. One of those denim miniskirts and a tight tank top with a zip up hoodie. "Vanessa, no."

"Its dress code, not like they even care." She said. She stuck her hands straight down and her skirt was at mid thigh and then she did the shirt test and that passed too. Her shoes I couldn't care less about unless she started wearing hooker heels. Then we would need to sit down and have a little talk.

I sighed, "Fine, get in the car lets go." I ushered them outside and unlocked the car.

I dropped Scott off first then drove in complete awkward silence with Nessi to her high school. "Dad, stop the car." She said suddenly.

I looked at her startled and turned off the road. "Honey what's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, I just don't want to be seen in my dad's car at school. That's just wrong." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Really it wasn't. When I was younger I took the bus until I could drive and if I missed the bus I would get a ride from my mom and she always dropped me off in front of the school.

I looked around. "Vanessa, we are five blocks from the school, at least let me drive you a little closer."

"No dad, no one really lives here except for a bunch of old people. So I will be able to meet with people soon. Just go. I'll be fine." She said exasperatedly and got out slamming the door behind her. Nessi set off down the street at a fast pace not looking behind her once to see if I had left, which I hadn't.

When I couldn't see her walking anymore I started my car back up and left going back home. I watched a little television and did a little work before I decided it was a good enough time to take a shower and get ready for my home meeting with this Isabella Swan. I hoped with all my heart that she wasn't like the others. I don't know if I could deal with that again. Much too disturbing for my tastes, even if it has been years since I have been with a woman I just can't deal with that.

I quickly showered and got dressed in a nice pair of Dockers and a dark green button down with the sleeves rolled up.

Not too long after I was ready the doorbell rang and I trotted down the stairs to get the door. Behind that door was the paragon of beauty. She had dark mahogany hair that hung down in waves with highlights of red shining out from the sunlight. Full pouty lips and rosy pink cheeks. And her eyes, oh her eyes were a beautiful shade of a milk chocolate that just made you want to melt. Her petite body was dressed in a knee length skirt that ruffled at the bottom and tucked into that was a grey tank top with a stony beading at the top and some strappy heals. She looked amazing and I felt a slight tightening in my pants.

"You must be Bella," I said, my voice cracking slightly at the end causing extreme embarrassment, for the both of us I might add. She looked down smiling and I saw a light blush rise up to her cheeks.

"Yes and you must be Edward." She said her voice even more beautiful than it was on the phone.

I nodded and gestured for her to come in and she stepped inside and looked around with wide eyes. "Wow," she breathed. "This place is amazing." She said turning to me.

"Thank you." I said smiling. I took pride in my house, why I don't know. "Would you like something to eat or drink?" I asked leading her to the big dining table that we never used except on holidays or when I had company.

She shook her head claiming she had eaten before she came.

"So," I said sitting down. "Before we start I would like to say something, if you are a prostitute I would like you to leave immediately." I said sternly and looking at her, expecting her to stand up and walk out the door. What surprised me was when she didn't.


	4. Chapter 4

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 4_

_EPOV_

"So," I said sitting down. "Before we start I would like to say something, if you are a prostitute I would like you to leave immediately." I said sternly and looking at her, expecting her to stand up and walk out the door. What surprised me was when she didn't.

Instead she looked at me stunned before that stunned look turned into a slight glare. "Excuse me, but do I look like a prostitute to you?"

I was taken aback, "Well the last few that I talked to didn't look like a prostitute either so I just wanted to get that out of the way." I said wanting to move past this part and just move on to other topics. I'm sure I embarrassed us both enough for the rest of the day.

"Ill have you know that I am a best selling novelist." She said proudly.

My head cocked to the side of its own accord. "Then what are you doing here? If you're a best selling author I'm sure there must be something else you could be doing than this." I said confused.

She sighed, "Well I just needed a change of scenery. I have had an immense case of writers block for the past few months. I thought that maybe doing something different I would be able to get my mind off things for a while then go back to writing at a later date."

"Well, it seems that you have answered already some questions. You obviously have a college degree in English literature I'm assuming." She nodded. "And the question of why you want to do this. So do you like kids?"

She shrugged. "I don't have any of my own, I live alone. But one of my close friends has a child of their own. I usually do babysitting for them and I love being with her. So I suppose you could say yes I like kids. I hope to have a few of my own one day." She said with a dreamy smile on her face.

"How do you feel about teenagers?" I asked.

Her eyes went a little wide. "Well, they cant be that bad can they?" she asked timidly.

I chuckled darkly, "Bella, you have no idea. You know all the stories about teenagers being rebellious and hating their parents?"

"Yes…"

"They are all true."

"Oh," she took a deep breath. "Well I suppose being an only child I never really went through that stage. My parents and I were very close. I never really felt the need to be rebellious, they were very open and let me do what I wanted within reason." She said looking down, her eyebrows pulled together.

"I have a fifteen year old daughter, Nessi, but she prefers Vanessa now. Then my little Scotty is six years old. Nessi tends to be a little anti social I suppose. If you do choose to do this don't take it personally, she treats me the same way."

She nodded silently.

"So, moving onto the finer details, this is an in-house position. There are a few guest rooms that you would be able to choose from if you do so choose to take the job. I have a very busy schedule since I am one of the top doctors at the local hospital. Being that I can usually be flexible with my hours, only being there when need be, and not when I don't have to be. Which can also be a problem since it can be hard to find a baby sitter at short notice when Nessi is off doing something with her friends." Again Bella nodded her head in understanding. "I can drop the kids off at school in the morning but in the afternoon it can be tough. Scotty and Nessi always go to a trusted friends house after school, but I would prefer for them to be picked up from school in the afternoon. If I am not around to cook dinner I call to let Nessi know so that she can either order a pizza or something, so that is something that needs to be taken care of. It doesn't happen all the time, but I would prefer for them to be eating something better for them. Does that sound fine to you?"

She nodded a slight smile playing on those delectable lips. "Yes that sounds about perfect. All things that I can do."

"Perfect, how much were you thinking for pay?" I asked her trying to keep my skepticism from showing on my face.

"Oh, well," her face turned a bright shade of pink. "I hadn't actually thought about that. I don't want to get paid for this. This isn't something that I consider a paying position as. I hope you understand."

I sat back startled. "I wouldn't feel right not paying you for helping me with everything." I told her honestly.

She laughed a little. "Well, how about this: we start off with nothing, then we can see if we can come up with something acceptable based on the way things go. A test drive if you will." She said calmly smiling brightly.

"That sounds perfect Miss Swan." I said smiling just as brightly back at her.

She laughed again, a beautiful noise, like bells. "Please Edward call me Bella." She said.

"Bella," I said loving the way her name rolled off my tongue.

We exchanged contact information, agreeing that she would start getting things moved in towards the end of the week since it was only Tuesday and she had a few things to get buttoned up and taken care of back at her apartment in Manhattan.

As she left the house I couldn't help my eyes from wandering to her perfectly shaped behind. I shut the door quickly behind her incase she were to turn around without warning but continued to watch from the windows. God I am turning into such a stalker. Staring at her ass from the window? I thought to myself as her car pulled away from my house and down the street.

I glanced at the clock and cursed as I saw that I was late in picking up Scott and Nessi. I grabbed my keys and ran to the car getting in and quickly speeding away from the driveway and down the street going many miles above the speed limit but I couldn't bring myself to care.

When I got to the elementary school I didn't see Scotty standing outside like he usually was so I parked in the parent parking lot and walked into the building and passed the office with no sign of Scott. Being the overbearingly protective parent I was I couldn't help the worry that spread through me. Remembering his teachers name I quickly found the classroom and walked in since the door was open. Mrs. Smith was looking at some papers and there Scotty was sitting on a chair with his back pack on his shoulders with tears in his eyes.

"Oh Scotty." I said as I walked into the room.

Scotty jumped up and ran to me. I bent down and opened my arms and he launched himself into me immediately burying his head into my shoulder. "Daddy I thought you would never come!" he wailed and I could feel my shirt getting damper by the minute.

"I was only a few minutes late kiddo, nothing to worry about. I'm sorry I was late, I had a few things that I needed to take care of." I told him rubbing his back.

I saw Mrs. Smith, a woman of middle age, walk around her desk. "Mr. Cullen," she said with a smile and reached her hand out in greeting. I balanced Scotty on one arm and stuck my hand out to shake hers. "I know this is a first time thing for you and open house isn't for a few more weeks, but I would appreciate it if I could be told ahead of time if you aren't able to pick up your son at the time the school is let out. We could put him in adventure club which is an after school program held in the cafeteria where the kids are given snacks, have opportunities to get help on their homework, play games with the other students things like that." She explained.

"I've thought about it Mrs. Smith, trust me I have, but usually he goes home with a friend. This doesn't happen very often. Hardly ever, I think this is the first time. But I had a meeting earlier that ran a few minutes longer than expected, but I can assure you that this is the first and last time that this will happen." I told her earnestly, reminding myself that soon enough Bella would be coming to our home and will be picking him up everyday.

She smiled. "That's very good to know. Is there a Mrs. Cullen who could help out with the afternoon retrieval?" she asked curiously.

I continued rubbing Scotty's back. "Not currently no, there never has been." I said.

Mrs. Smith's smiling faced turned into a frown then a sad smile. "I'm sorry to hear that. Well, I hope to see you at the open house!" she said, ending the brief conversation.

I nodded, "I will most certainly be there." I assured her and turned to leave.

Scotty's crying had quieted down by the time I got us back to the car and pulled out of the parking lot. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Vanessa's number, which went straight to voicemail. I felt my anger slowly starting to rise as I called her again and again resulting in the same thing, straight to voicemail. When we got home I set up Scotty for his homework and walked upstairs into my office and dialed Vanessa's number one last time. I was starting to get hope when it rang twice but again I got her voicemail.

"Vanessa Elizabeth Cullen, this is your father, you better start answering your phone young lady. Call me back the minute you get this, you are in deep trouble." I said icily into the phone trying to keep calm and my voice down so that Scotty wouldn't start to worry.

I went back downstairs after I calmed myself down enough to help Scott with his homework. Even after we finished about an hour later, no sign of Vanessa.

I started dinner around five and with all my pent up anger I decided to make stuffed breaded chicken breast. I quickly got the chicken out of the freezer and defrosted. I sliced the chicken open and got out a wooden rolling pin and started hitting the chicken probably too hard but I had to do something. Scotty came in alarmed within the first few minutes wondering what was going on but I shooed him off and continued on with my work.

Once it was in the oven and almost done I heard door shut and a giggle that I knew belonged to my daughter.

I walked out of the kitchen and into the foyer standing in front of the staircase where Vanessa was about to walk up. I crossed my arms and glared at her. When she almost bumped into me she stopped and looked up at me shaking her head to get her black side bangs out of her green eyes. Neither of my children looked anything like me besides the color of their eyes. Vanessa was a naturally pale person with black hair and green eyes. She had her mother's body unfortunately for me since her mother had an amazing body. She got her black hair from her uncle and God knows where he got it. She was short only coming to about five three. She got a light tan from the sun in the summer that stuck around all through the year.

Scotty on the other hand had naturally light tan skin green eyes and light brown hair. Already you could tell that he was going to have the build of a football player. He was on the heavier side but I was going to sign him up for peewee football during the summer for fall football all under the influence of his Uncle Emmett who had the same build as him.

Me? I was naturally pale, green eyes, a strange copper colored hair and had a lanky build, but beefed up a bit in high school after joining wrestling, baseball and the swim team.

"Uh, excuse me." She said nastily leaning back on her right leg with her hands on her hips. She didn't even know her mother and yet they were so similar in so many ways.

"Excuse me? Well excuse me for wanting my daughter to call me or even text message me that you were going to be out when I told you that I was going to come get you from school." I nearly yelled at her.

Vanessa stood up straight glaring straight back at me. "You were late. I waited but you weren't there. My friends were leaving and I went with them. You don't need to freak out over nothing!" she yelled.

I towered over her in my six foot two height. "Vanessa all you had to do was take two seconds out of your precious day to let me know where you were. You didn't even have to call, you could have just sent me a text for all I care, and just let me know where you are going to be! I don't ask for a lot from you, just that you stay safe, get good grades and contact me if you are going somewhere that I don't know of! Is that really too much to ask Vanessa? Because if it is, please by all means just tell me right now." I yelled back at her.

"Well sor-ry dad." She said dragging out the word sorry into two syllables and making her sentence sarcastic. "I just kinda figured that you would know that I was with a friend if I wasn't there or didn't tell you. You don't need to PMS about every little thing that I do wrong! I'm not a kid anymore! You don't need to baby me all the freaking time. I'm almost sixteen! I'm old enough to make my own decisions!" she screamed with tears starting to gather in her eyes. Vanessa shoved me from my position in front of the stairs and ran up to her room and slammed the door behind her.

"Daddy…" Scotty mumbled from the living room.

I poked my head in. "Don't worry about it Scotty. Nessi did something bad and was being bad about it." I said trying to not say too much but just enough. He wasn't one to ask a lot of questions.

I walked back into the kitchen right when the bell for the oven went off. "Dinner!" I called out and Scotty came bouncing in. I sent him upstairs to get Vanessa since I didn't want her to miss dinner.

A few minutes later Scotty was sitting in his chair and Nessi was coming down the stairs in her pajama shorts and a camisole with her hair in a bun high on the top of her head and her bangs hanging in her face. I couldn't help but wonder if what I said had really hurt her or if something had happened before she got home, but that giggle that I heard led me to believe something else.

Awhile into dinner I set my fork down and glanced at Scott who was munching happily on his chicken then to Nessi who was leaning in her chair messing with her food but one at a time putting a grain of the brown rice I cooked into her mouth.

"I have an announcement to make." I said with much less enthusiasm than I had hoped. Scott turned his head, still chewing to look at me and Nessi glanced once at me before returning to pushing the food around on her plate. "The reason I was late today was because I was having a meeting. I met a wonderful woman today who has gladly taken on the position as an in-house nanny so to speak." I eyed them both carefully while talking.

"Yay!" Scott yelled, food flying out of his mouth.

"Gross." Nessi mumbled then sat up and looked at me. "In-house, like 24/7, she's going to be living here kind of thing?"

"Yes, that was the plan originally arranged." I nodded.

"Why does she have to live here why cant she live at her own house and only be here to do the cleaning and pick Scott up from school?" she asked rudely.

I rolled my eyes. We had gone over this before when I had first thought of the idea. "There are other things that she is going to be doing and those things will require her living here in order to do them."

"Lovely." She murmured turning back to her food.

I cleared my throat. "Her name is Bella Swan, she is about my age and she is going to be moving in towards the end of the week. Please make her feel at home and Nessi, behave." I begged.

"Vanessa." She corrected her name and I ignored the slip up. She hated her nickname. When she started middle school she was Vanessa, no longer Nessi.

No more words were brought up about the topic for the rest of dinner. And once Nessi was finished playing with her food she took it to the kitchen and was about to leave when I called out to her. "Vanessa?"

"What?" she asked turning to look at me.

I smiled at her. "Because of what happened earlier today, you will be doing the dishes until I say you no longer have to, so if you would wait out in the living room or even in here." I gestured to her empty seat or the passage leading into the living room.

"I hate my life." She groaned.


	5. Chapter 5

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 5_

_BPOV_

Was I a prostitute! What kind of question was that! Do I look like a prostitute? I don't think so! The fact that he had a moody teenager didn't scare me off, it just made me a little nervous. Now, I was second- guessing this whole thing. I mean how desperate was I? I don't know the first thing about children, hell I'll probably never even have kids. I was in way over my head and I knew it. I quickly drove out of the driveway of the immaculate home, which I would be staying in for who knows how long. I was on my way out of Westchester and into the city, so I could pack. I figured I didn't want to sell the apartment, it was hard enough to find a really nice one already and plus where would I go if I had to take a break for a while.

I walked out of the elevator and into my apartment, throwing my keys quickly on table near the door. I had a lot to do in a little time slot, three days to be specific. The first thing I had to get out of my way was the biggest; I sat on the couch as I dialed the number of the writing house I was in contract with. "Hi, is Jimmy there?" Jimmy was the big boss at the publishers. He took care of all his authors and made sure they were happy. I quickly got put through to Jimmy.

"Hey Bells, talk to me," I sighed, and he had heard it. "Oh, no what'd you do?"

I quickly became frantic. "Oh no nothing, I didn't do anything." I took a second and corrected my words. "Well I did do something." I could hear him sigh, but I continued. "I made a decision, and that was that I need a break. I'm not sure how long, but I've got some serious writers block and I figured I'm in between books so the time I take off I will just double when I come back. I mean so what if I have to pull a few all-nighters and skip some parties, big whoop." I had already prepared this whole speech on the way home; I knew it was going to be a tough sell. I waited for him to answer anxiously.

"Alright Bells, but the _only_ reason I'm letting you do this is because I know you mean it. But you have to mean it, I know a lot of authors that can fill your place." his threat made me shiver; I couldn't picture losing my job. "You have my word Jimmy, thank you so much." I hung up the phone and sighed, now that that was done with I had another call to make.

"Hey, yeah can you come over; I have to tell you something"

Mike got over here in seconds, anxiously. He probably thought I was going to pronounce my love or something for him. Mike was another author in the publishing house. He and I had been friends for about five years, but just friends, nothing more. Mike was okay as a friend, but when it came to romance I found him… rather creepy.

"What's going on babe," he leaned against the door, breathless, oh Lord, he ran here.

I took a deep breath "I'm taking some time off," I said simply, I could see his shoulders slump. "I have some major writers block and I think it's time to set my priorities straight." I said simply as I walked into the kitchen area and grabbed a beer. I got one out for him too as he sat on the couch.

"Did you…" I cut him off.

"Call Jimmy, yes, he said its fine. I just have to work way hard when I get back." he looked at me skeptically.

"If you come back."

I rolled my eyes. "No Mike, I know I'm coming back. I love writing and I love my job. This is just a little detour that's all."

It was Thursday night, and I was sleeping on my bed, without the sheets of course, I think they were packed in one of the many boxes to the right of my bedside. I couldn't sleep, I was too nervous. I ran over my list of to-do things. I had confirmed a time with Edward, _Edward. _I would be lying to myself completely if I didn't admit he was such a hot father. Of course now I felt like a teen back in high school, crushing on the teacher or something like that. But he was so handsome, everything from his hair and his body; it couldn't have helped more at the fact that he was very successful. Not saying money mattered to me, but I couldn't be with someone who was a bum or anything.

Wait, wait, and hold up. _Be with! _No, Bella, no. I was not to have a crush on Edward Cullen. He was technically my employer, and he was kind of taken already, but by kids, not a significant other. There was no way I was getting involved with him even as handsome and nice as he was he was way, way off limits. I returned to my to-do list before _thoughts_ came into my head.

I had already called U-haul and got the smallest trailer they had for my boxes, I didn't have that many, but I doubt my little Prius would fit all my crap. I had already called the maid service and told them they would only need to come in once a week instead of everyday just so they could keep things tidy.

I had alerted my family of my doing, well, my dad and my mom. They were two separate people; they had been two separate people for a long time. They got a divorce when I was a baby so I had never really noticed the absence of a family. I knew my mom and dad couldn't really complain of my doing, I was already successful enough where I was set for life, that is of course as long as I didn't do anything stupid like invest in bull crap.

That was it, I didn't have many other friends and the ones I did have I emailed. I was set to go, I quickly set my alarm clock to six, it would be about an hour to Westchester but getting out of the city in rush hour would translate to about two hours. Plus, I had to move all the boxes into the U-Haul that morning. I took a deep breath. I was really doing this. For a second, just a second, I felt I was sure what I was doing.


	6. Chapter 6

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 6_

_BPOV_

Beep. Beep. Beep. I groaned as I quickly pushed the snooze button. I groggily sat up.

Show time.

I had been on the road for about an hour now and it was getting annoying. I had gotten so used to living in the city that walking had become a part of my daily routine. Rarely did I ever use my car to go anywhere. I saw the line was not moving at all so I quickly checked my phone for texts. I rolled my eyes when I saw one from Eric.

**Mike: Are you sure this is a good idea….**

I exited from my messages without a second thought, I didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. No, I wasn't, but I wasn't about to admit that to him. I was a writer not a nanny. The line finally started moving and I was able to get on the highway where driving became productive. The car wasn't as easy to navigate with the U-Haul trailing behind but I tried my best.

I took a deep breath as I pulled into the gates of the oversized house. This was it; this wasn't any interview or anything this was the real deal. I quickly pulled into the circular driveway. Before I had a chance to even get out, Mr. Cullen, I mean Edward, was already walking out the double doors. Of course he looked amazing, with a light blue button up and black dress pants. He had that mature look about him with that. I quickly got out.

"Hello Bella, was traffic okay?"

I nodded my head. "Oh yeah, easy ride" I said awkwardly.

"Well let me show you to the room, the help can bring your luggage up for you." he said.

_The Help_. He had help? I didn't see them last time. Would I just be known as _The Help_? That wasn't exactly what I had signed up for. Edward motioned for me to go into the house, as I started walking I felt Edward's hand lightly touch my back while he lead me into the foyer. For some reason my stomach flipped. _Whoa there, Bella, stop now,_I thought to myself.

"Just right up these stairs" I could tell Edward was being polite and civil. We finally got up to third level of the mansion, to the very end of the hallway.

"This is your room, the kids' rooms are just down the hall, but I thought I would give you just a little more privacy." he opened the door. The room was actually very nice. It was all white but in a cool, clean way. The only spark of color came from the red pillows scattered on the bed, the chair, and the windowsill.

"I hope you like it; I had my decorator just do something simple" I smiled and looked toward him

"I really like it, thank you. You're very hospitable," _You're very hospitable! What! Nice going Bella you sound like his grandma_.

"So, when do I meet the kids?" I said, trying to make the conversation flow.

"Actually, they'll be home in a couple of hours. I printed up the kids' schedules. Nessi doesn't have many extracurricular activities. The most you'll be having to pick her up from is detention." Edward grimaced; I could tell it really bothered him. "Scotty, though, is starting football this fall, he's very excited about that." Now, Edward looked proud, like every father does when their boy first starts to play football.

"I don't have a cook, so is it okay if you'll be making the meals?" Edward looked at me hopefully.

"Of course, I mean I used to cook for my dad all the time, so I'm sure I can

dig back up those skills" I smiled at all the times my dad had doubted me. One time I made him enchiladas and he was so hesitant, the way he hesitated before putting it in his mouth you would've thought it was poison or something.

"Well, I'll let you get settled in" he smiled and I smiled. He and I both turned. I meant to ask where the bathroom was and he was walking out when we suddenly got caught in each other. We found ourselves standing inches apart.

"Uh, I'm sorry" I said lamely, quickly stepping away, before I would lose control. He drew a weird look on his face that I wasn't sure what meant, he quickly rushed out after that. I breathed and collapsed on the bed, letting the mattress come up and enfold me. I never did find out where the bathroom was.

I had been unpacking for about two hours when I heard a door open and then slam shut. I quickly walked out in the hallway to see if I could hear anything.

I distinctly heard Edward's voice. "Hey kids, how was school? Did you thank Mrs. Anderson for giving you a ride?" I heard a kid's voice eagerly ramble. "Well, there's someone I would like you to meet," Edward said after who I presume was Scotty, was done telling about his day. I breathed and started walking down the stairs. Edward turned to me "Oh, Uh, Nessie and Scotty, meet Bella." I saw an eager, cute boy happily wave hello, then I saw a moody girl, who had her arms crossed, pop her gum and glare at me. Oh shit.


	7. Chapter 7

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 7_

_EPOV_

I woke up the next morning and felt a rush of nerves run through my body. Today was the day that Bella would be coming to live with us. I had worked my ass off trying to think of what kind of room Bella would prefer. I settled on red and white hoping that she would be okay with that until we could get the interior designers to come back in and she could do whatever she pleased in that upstairs room.

Around noon I saw a black Prius with a U-Haul trailer pull up through the window and I quickly got up and started walking out the door to meet her.

"Hello Bella," I greeted her. "Was traffic okay?"

She nodded her head quickly, "Oh yeah, easy drive." She said nonchalantly.

"Well," I said. I couldn't think of much conversation. "Let me show you your room, the help can bring up your things." I told her leading her back towards the house.

Her eyes shot open wide when I said the word "help". We had maids come in every other day to keep the place tidy since I'm not always around, but I might have to rethink their position here for a while since Bella would be taking care of things around the house now.

"Just up these stairs." I murmured to her. I placed my hand on the small of her back. Her back tensed and I considered removing my hand, a gesture I was taught when I was younger by my father, but my hand was extremely happy where it currently resided on her back.

We reached the third level and I led her down the long hallway. "This is your room." I said pointing to the door that was closed in front of us. "The kids rooms are just down the hall. I thought I would give you a little more privacy." I don't know if she caught on to what I was saying but I couldn't take it back. I cleared my throat quietly. "I hope you like it. I had my decorator do something simple."

"I really like it, thank you. You're very hospitable." The look on her face was priceless. She had an embarrassed "Why in the fuck did I just say that" kind of look on her beautiful face. I couldn't help but smile as the blush rose from her chest and started to color her cheeks.

Bella seemed to be thinking about something when she said, "So, when do I meet the kids?"

"Actually, they'll be home in a couple of hours. I printed up the kids schedules. Nessi doesn't have any extracurricular activities. The most you'll be having to pick her up from is detention." I said with disappointment tingeing my tone. "Scotty though, is starting up football this fall, he's very excited about that." Pride had taken over my voice.

"I don't have a cook, so is it okay if you'll be making the meals?" I asked eagerly. I didn't mind cooking for my children but I already had so much going on during the day.

Of course, I mean I used to cook for my dad all the time, so I'm sure I can dig back up those skills." She said with a dreamy smile on her face. I wondered what brought up that smile.

I smiled along with her still not knowing why. "Well," I said breaking into her trance. "I'll let you get settled in."

We both turned to leave at the same time causing us to get entangled in one another and I felt Little Eddy make himself known to the world. I held back a groan of annoyance at it and quickly mumbled "Uh, I'm sorry." And got out as quickly as I could.

I spent the next two and a half hours sitting in my office downstairs contemplating what it would be like with Bella here. I knew that it would have a major effect on Nessi but I knew that Scotty would be ecstatic about having a mother figure around the house. I wondered about my feelings for her. There was definitely a physical attraction to her but I also felt like there could be something more. I felt a spark with her that I hadn't felt in any of the other women I had dated before her, and we weren't even dating. In a way I hoped that she felt it too so that I wouldn't feel totally alone.

A car horn honked from outside and I ran to get the door to let my kids in.

"Hey kids, how was school? Did you thank Mrs. Anderson for giving you a ride?" I asked them. Scotty started rambling on about how he thanked her and all about his day at school. I shot him the look that tells him he needs to be quiet for a moment.

I heard steps descending the stairs and I waited until Bella was close to us to continue. "Well there's someone I would like you to meet. "Oh, uh," I hadn't expected her to be that close to us. "Nessie and Scotty this is Bella."

She glanced first at Scotty and then onto Nessie who was glaring at her and popped the bubble of gum that was in her mouth.

I sighed and hung my head a little.

"Hi I'm Bella, I'm going to be living here." She said quietly and waved a little.

Scotty screamed and started jumping up and down. He dropped his stuff and ran to Bella latching onto her leg. "Are you going to be my new mommy?" he asked looking up at her with those bright green puppy dog eyes.

She looked at me looking like she had no idea what to do, a cry for help.

"Scotty, get off her. Shes not our new mother." Nessi said before I could say anything. She stormed passed Bella, pushing her in the process and I felt my anger flare.

Scotty didn't listen to Nessi though. He just stayed there attached to Bella's leg looking up at her expectantly.

"Scotty, get off of Bella please. We will discuss things more later. Go upstairs and play." I told him.

He pulled himself off of her, grabbed his backpack, and climbed the stairs with both his hands and feet.

"Sorry about that." I told her looking at the floor. "Scotty is too much like his uncle who is a very loud and obnoxious person and Nessi, well she is her mother. Which is why her mother is no longer around. She doesn't take well to authority."

"Its alright. Scotty is such a sweetie, I'm just scared that I might say something that will make him believe I am here to be his mom forever." She said. "On the topic of Nessi I don't have anything to say."

I nodded. "So do you have plans for dinner?"

She shook her head. "What's your favorite? I am sure I can make it."

I smiled and showed her to the kitchen, which she gawked at. I pulled out a cook book and showed her the recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese.

While she started on dinner I headed upstairs. I checked in on Scotty who was playing with his Iron Man action figures before I knocked on Nessi's door.

There was no answer but I knocked in anyway. She was sitting on her bed, the color of the green quilt matching her eyes. "Vanessa, what the hell was that back there? You cant just come in here and disrespect Bella like that." I hissed.

"What?" she said. "I was just welcoming her."

"How? By being the Ice Queen? I don't think so! You have been so disrespectful to everyone lately. What has gotten into you? What happened to my little Nessi?"

"She grew up. Now get out of my room." She said simply and returned to whatever she was doing.

"Vanessa, you are so grounded its not funny." I told her. I walked over to her bed and unplugged the computer that was sitting in front of her and turned it off. I went over to her iHome and grabbed her iPod setting it next to her computer. I grabbed her phone and next the cable on her TV and the DVD player.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" she screamed at me when I had all her belongings in my arms.

"I told you, you're grounded and that means no privileges. You will be dropped off at school by me and picked up by Bella whether you like it or not. You are not to go anywhere with your friends after school or you will not be allowed out of this house even for school."

She looked at me stunned. "You cant do that." She said sticking her nose in the air.

"Oh really? Try me Vanessa Elizabeth, just try me." I told her before walking out and slamming the door shut behind me.

An hour later Bella informed me that dinner was done. I went up and sent Scotty downstairs and opened up Nessi's door. "Dinner is done."

"Im not hungry." She mumbled to me from under her covers.

I couldn't feel any sympathy for her right now. "Vanessa get your ass out of bed and downstairs, you are eating dinner."

Dinner was rather quiet. The only discussion was Scotty and Bella talking all about Scotty's interests in school and outside of school. Vanessa sat in the kitchen after she was done waiting for everyone else so that she could do her dish duties.

After everything was locked up and the lights were off I led Bella back to her room. "If you want to change the colors or anything in the room, just let me know so we can change it whatever you would like."

She smiled. "Thank you Edward. But the room is perfect."

I laughed "Okay, as long as you are happy. Goodnight Bella."

"Goodnight Edward."


	8. Chapter 8

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 8_

_BPOV_

I quickly made dinner; it was sort of nice having the kitchen to myself. I relaxed as I stirred the macaroni, humming to myself as I walked over to the freezer, pulling out a bag of frozen vegetables. I started steaming them just as the macaroni finished up. It was nice cooking, I hadn't done it in years. I had always remembered it being so calm; it gave my hands something to do while my mind could wander. This was usually where I would get my ideas for writing. Just as I pulled out the plates I saw Edward enter the kitchen.

"Oh hey, dinner's ready." he smiled at me.

"It smells amazing Bella," I smiled, with a proud smile. Edward went to go get the kids for dinner and I set the table. I saw Scotty anxiously run down from the huge set of stairs, it must've been nice growing up in such a big house. My dad and I never had that big of a set up, but it was enough for us. We didn't need more than two bathrooms, although I don't miss sharing a bathroom.

It had taken quite some time for Nessie to get downstairs, but she finally came. I curiously watched her as she sat down and poked around with her food. When she thought neither I nor Edward was watching she stuffed some macaroni in her mouth, she smiled quickly before readjusting her angered face. I smiled to myself, there had to have been a soft side of Nessie, I would just have to find it.

After dinner I quickly cleaned up as I stood next to Nessie who was washing the dishes, while I was cleaning the counter. She was thorough as she made sure there were no stains on the plates before carefully placing them into the dishwasher. But, even though she was being careful, she still kept an angry face.

Nessie stomped upstairs and I breathed a sigh of relief, I was never one for awkward situations. "Hey," Edward smiled. I laughed.

"Hi,"

"Well, how was the first day?"

I laughed again, "Interesting, I'm learning… a lot."

"Well, from experience, parenthood can be stressful. So if you want to turn in for the night it's all right. You do look a little wiped."

I smiled, he was sort of considerate in a way.

"Sounds good."

"If you just wait for a minute I'm going to shut off the lights and I can walk you back to your room," he smiled.

I could tell Edward was a gentlemen, which let's be honest here, completely turned me on. Sure, players could be hot, but at the end of the day it was going to be the gentlemen that would get you your tampons. Not, that I was implying anything.

Edward and I walked up to the third floor, which embarrassingly, made me out of breath.

"You okay?" he asked as we reached to the third floor.

I laughed, my face turning red from lack of breath and embarrassment.

"Oh I'm all good, I was never one for physical activity." I said, remembering the horrible days in gym.

He laughed and then we said our goodnights to each other.

I shut the door and collapsed on my bed.

**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

I quickly tapped my alarm clock and got up. It was 6:55, Bristol hill academy, which was the private school they both attended that was k-12, started at 8:00. Edward and I both agreed that he would drive to school and I would pick up. I quickly padded over to my amazingly huge closet picking out momish appropriate clothing. I may not be the mom, but that doesn't mean I would be wearing miniskirts and tank tops. It was a little chilly in Westchester; fall was approaching rapidly. I pulled out a pair of dark jeans, a stripped lose sweater.

I quickly walked down the stairs not bothering to put on shoes. If I was going to be living in this house for a long time I was going to get comfortable, end of story.

After searching for ten minutes, I found the frying pan on which I could make eggs.

Just as I was about finished pulling the juices out of the fridge Scotty and Nessie sauntered down the stairs tiredly. Edward followed after him, already dressed respectively for work.

"Morning guys, I've got some eggs and juice here so eat up"

"Thanks Bella!" Scotty bounced, I laughed at his apparel. I may have not been a fashion guru but it was obvious he had grown up without a female figure. He had red and orange-checkered shorts on and a long sleeve lime green striped shirt, it was cute. Nessie, on the other hand, chose a tight black tank top and a red sparkly mini skirt. Her neck was buried in tacky necklaces and her shoes were black ankle boots. It was fashionable, but it not something appropriate for school. I grimaced at how _my_ dad would have reacted to that attire.

"Yeah Bella, it smells good." Edward smiled and Nessie rolled her eyes. We sat down at the breakfast table while I helped correct Scotty's homework. Edward jumped in, helping with geography. It was hard to believe what they were already learning so young. We all got up quickly, I handed Scotty and Nessie their bags on which they had set on the island and they walked off to the car. Edward had already put his dishes in the sink and turned around to where I was waiting to hand him his briefcase.

"Goodbye" he quickly pecked me on the cheek as if it were the most normal thing to do. I jumped back and so did he. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. It's just… a force of habit I guess." He looked freaked but of course I probably did too.

"Oh… uh… no I understand. Don't worry," I smiled as little, ignoring the knots. "Have a good day Edward," I assured him. He backed away slowly, checking if I was still okay. "You're going to be late." I slowly reminded him. He nodded and walked out the door.

I leaned on the counter and dug my head into my hands and groaned. I looked up at the empty house… now what?


	9. Chapter 9

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 9_

_EPOV_

I watched, amused, as Nessie stomped her way from the kitchen up the stairs.

"Hey," I said calling Bella's attention and she laughed.

"Hi."

"Well, how was your first day?" I asked. I could tell by the dark purple bags under her eyes that it must have been hard work. She's just lucky there isn't an infant around.

She laughed again, I didn't really know why, but it was cute. "Interesting… I'm learning a lot." She said.

I smiled and nodded. "Well from experience, parenthood can be stressful. So, if you want to turn in for the night that's all right. You do look a little wiped."

She smiled at me. The lights in the kitchen were dim and I loved the look of her in this lighting. "Sounds good." She replied.

"If you just wait a minute, I'm going to shut off the lights and I can walk you back to your room." She nodded and stayed in there whilst I left the kitchen.

"'You look a little wiped?'" I mumbled to myself. "What the hell, am I in the ninth grade?" I felt like slamming my head against the wall but I knew that it would draw her attention to do so. I needed to be smoother, more 007, without looking like a douche bag.

I walked back into the kitchen and led her to the stairs, ushering her ahead of me. Again I had my hand on the small of her back the whole way up. By the time we reached the third floor she was trying to catch her breath.

"You okay?" I asked worriedly.

She laughed, her face turning that wonderful shade of pink. "Oh, I'm all good. I was never one for physical activity."

I couldn't help but laugh. Her being a writer didn't give me much to imagine with her athleticism. The expression on her face looked far away and embarrassed.

I led her into her room. "Goodnight Bella, see you tomorrow morning."

"'Night," she said with a yawn.

I left her room, shutting the door behind me and left to my room. I stripped myself of my work clothes, pulling on some sweats. I left my shirt off, no need for it. After I finished up some paperwork for work I brushed my teeth and slipped into bed and shut off the lights. I was exhausted from today, work and then Nessie. It was good to just finally be able to get some sleep.

I woke up bright and early the next morning at six thirty as usual. I went through my morning routine. Bathroom, teeth, clothes laid out on bed, then a shower.

After I got out of the shower I dried myself off and wrapped the towel around my waist and walked back out and got dressed in my almost usual khaki Dockers and a light blue button down. Most doctors wear ties, I know, but I don't. Call me casual, because I am.

I left my room after a quick check on my hair and appearance. I wanted to look good for Bella. Stepping out into the hallway I was assaulted with the smell of eggs and my stomach grumbled. I followed behind Nessie who again disappointed me with her choice of clothing. I should have taken away all the clothes that I deemed revealing as part of my punishment for her. Scotty bounded past me dressed, well, like only my little boy would. Once he learned to dress himself he got mad at me every time I tried to help him pick out an outfit. I just hoped that he grew out of it by the time he was in middle school at least.

Bella was pulling out all the juices from the fridge when she turned around and saw all of us walking down the stairs. "Morning guys, I've got some eggs and juice here, so eat up." She said letting out a breath and putting the juice on the counter.

"Thanks Bella!" Scotty said and grabbed his plate, trying to be careful not to spill everything everywhere. At least he savored his food. Bella was laughing at Scotty, seemingly eyeing his clothes. Maybe she could get through to him and help him with his eye for fashion.

I smiled, "Yeah Bella, it smells good." I grabbed my own plate and sat down at the table. Nessie was quiet as usual but I on the other hand was watching entranced as Bella was going over Scotty's homework with him. It was wonderful watching. I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if she were to stay here long term. What it would be like for them to finally have a mother figure in their lives, even if Nessie did resent her.

Bella looked to me for help when they got to the kindergarten version of geography. She didn't know anything about it.

When every ones plates were empty I grabbed them and put them in the sink. Bella jumped up and grabbed the school bags that Nessie and Scotty had left on the island and handed each to their owner. When I turned around, done with soaking all the things she used for breakfast, Bella was waiting patiently with my briefcase in hand.

When she handed it to me I leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Goodbye." I said. Then I realized what I had just done and jumped back a little bit, but so did she. "Oh my god. I am so sorry." I mumbled nervous that she would be so freaked out and leave us. "Force of habit I guess." And it was. When my kids' mother was still around I would give her a peck on the cheek goodbye and then be on my way. Seeing Bella in the same sort of position must have triggered something in my brain. I don't know what I'm thinking.

"Oh… Uh… No I understand, don't worry." She smiled a small smile. I hope she doesn't leave.

I nodded slowly and turned and walked out the door. Again I had that feeling of wanting to bang my head against something hard. But of course my kids were in the car, so the steering wheel was out and the wall would draw Bella's attention.

I hopped in the car and started up the engine. Scotty was making odd noises the whole way to his side of the school. When we got to the entrance he saw a few of his friends and threw open the door. He nearly choked himself by almost forgetting to unbuckle his seatbelt.

We had to turn around and go back another way to get to the other side of the school for the high school wing. The school was huge, broken up into three wings. K-5 was in the first wing, 6-8 was in another, which I still thought was a waste of the school to put only three grades into a wing, but whatever. More power to them. And lastly was 9-12 in the third wing. Elementary, Middle, and High. Great right? All in the same place it just took a few extra minutes to get all the way around the school.

Next I went to drop off Nessie but when we reached a stop sign she got out of the car as soon as I stepped on the break. I rolled my eyes and headed towards the hospital.

I went through my daily routine. Shooing off all the nurses who threw themselves at me, did my rounds, then any appointments that I had. Finally I had my lunch break. I walked down to the cafeteria and grabbed a sandwich and a bag of chips. Hey, yes it is hospital food, but its pretty amazing for hospital food. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the house number.

It rang three times before there was an answer. "Cullen residence, Bella speaking."

"Hi Bella, its Edward." I said, nearly laughing at how formal her greeting was. We might have a nice house and I might be a doctor but I'm not that stuffy.

She let out a breath. "Oh, hi Edward, how's work?"

"Work is work." I mumbled. Sometimes I wish there could be some excitement but no, not here in Westchester. Everything is honky-dory. I knew it was probably wrong of me to think that, but what do you expect? "How's the house?"

"Uh, good. I'm trying to figure out something to do. The house is spotless, so I cant clean. I don't know what to do!" she laughed.

I laughed along with her. "You could shop for décor for your room. You could trash the house, I have no clue." I said making things up.

"Uh," she laughed. "Okay I'll get right on trashing your house." There was that feeling again. Only this time I could go into my office and bang my head against the wall.

"Well, I have to run," I told her. "I'll see you when I get home. Call me if you have any problems." I said.

"Okay, bye."

I hung up the phone quickly finished my sandwich. I scurried to my office and shut the door behind me. I faced against the wall "I," slam, "Am," slam, "So," slam, "Stupid." Slam. I mumbled in between slams. I really hoped that no one came and wondered what they heard. I don't really know how I would explain it.

N POV

I glanced at the clock. I had only a half hour to figure out some way to evade that whore my dad hired or get stuck driving in the same car as her all the way home. It was bad enough living with her, but to have her pick me up?

Thankfully it was free period so I was able to gather a group of friends and get our escape plan ready. My dad took away my phone, so there is no way for him to get a hold of me now.

I felt warm strong arms slip around my waist and then my hair was moved away from my neck to make way for lips. "Hey baby." He whispered.

I turned around in his arms, a big smile plastered onto my face. I laid my hands on top of his pecs. "Hey Jacob." I said and then moved my hands to his hair and pulled him down to me, capturing him into a deep kiss. I opened my mouth to him and he slid his tongue into my mouth. I pulled away not wanting to get in trouble with the teacher and end up in detention again.

He sat down in a chair and pulled me on top of him. "So can you do something today after school? A bunch of us are getting together."

A sly smile spread over my face. "I would love to baby, but my dad hired this whore to play mommy for us and she is supposed to be picking me up." I said pouting.

"We have free period right now," Alec said flipping his blonde hair to the side, if I didn't have Jake I would totally go for Alec. With his amazing hair and gorgeous hazel eyes and tan skin, he is totally my type. Especially when we have been friends for so long. "We can leave if we want its no big deal."

Jane, his twin commented. "Yeah, we have nothing to do. Lets just get out of here." They were identical. Sort of. They had the same hair and eyes and they looked very similar, but of course Jane was the girly version of Alec.

We told the teacher that we were going to the library for some quiet studying and walked out the side door towards student parking. Jake and I hopped into his rebuilt from the ashes Rabbit and Alec and Jane followed us in their new red Honda CRV. I thought it was a stupid car, but Alec and Jane loved it. And from the stories Jane told me, I could see why. It was very spacious.

Jake sent out a text to all our friends to meet at his house. I was so thankful that my dad didn't know where Jake lived. Lets be honest here people. My dad didn't know that Jacob even existed.


	10. Chapter 10

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 10_

_BPOV_

I pulled up to the area that was marked for student I noticed that there was no one there. I was nervous about being late for picking up Scotty after what happened last time, Edward told me.

A loud bell rang and a minute later kids came running out of the front double doors. I got out of the car when I noticed Scotty standing in front of the crowd searching. I started to walk up to him and when he noticed it was me a huge smile took up residence on his face and he charged towards me. I bent down like the parents did in the movies when they see their child for the first time and caught him in my arms pulling him up.

I set him down and he grabbed my hand almost instantly and I walked him to the car. He opened up the backseat and climbed in buckling his seat belt, without taking off his backpack.

"So how was school today Scotty?" I asked looking back at him in the rearview mirror.

"We drew pictures! I forget what its called, but we used red blue and lellow!" he said excitedly trying to get his backpack off. "I can show you!"

I laughed. "How about this? You can show me when we get home, but right now I have to pick up your sister."

He smiled happily and nodded.

We pulled up to the parking lot of the school and I looked around for Vanessa. I even got out of the car and searched through the crowd of people. Nothing; she was gone, again.

Panic started to overtake me, first day picking up the kids and I lost one of them. I rushed back to the car not wanting to leave Scotty in there by himself for too long. I pulled out my cell phone when I opened the door and sat down on the seat.

I scrolled though my contacts list hating that I had to do this. I think I was more embarrassed than anything. I reluctantly hit call on his name and dreaded every ring that it took for him to pick up the phone. "Bella? What's up?"

I paused taking a deep breath. "I'm so sorry Edward, I really am."

"Bella what happened?" he asked, worry taking over his voice. "Is Scotty okay?"

"Scotty is fine, its Vanessa, I don't know where she is. I picked up Scotty and then we came straight to the high school and I cant find her anywhere."

He sighed. "Just go home. There's no way to get a hold of her, I took her phone away and I have no idea where she could have possibly gone. She'll show up when she wants to."

I looked back at Scotty who was engrossed in his coloring book. "I um, are you sure?"

"Yes."

I nodded even though he couldn't see it. "Okay, I guess I'll see you at home." I said and hung up.

I pulled out of my parking space and took off down the road home.

I brought Scotty inside and we sat down at the kitchen table. He pulled out his picture and showed it to me. I tried to sound enthusiastic about it, putting the painting up onto the fridge. He pulled out his homework and worked diligently at it occasionally asking for questions.

I hadn't noticed that he had left the room until there was a hand on my shoulder. "Bella?" the voice asked.

I jumped a little and looked up to see Edward, the top button of his shirt undone and his tie loose around his neck. His hair looked like he had been constantly running his hands through it. "Oh, hi Edward. Anything from Vanessa?"

He shook his head and plopped down in the chair next to mine running his hands through his hair. "I cant believe that she would do something like this. I swear she is trying to kill me. She knew that I wouldn't be able to contact her if I had her phone and I don't know where any of her friends live. You wouldn't happen to have a teaching credential?" he asked looking up at me.

"No, why?"

He shrugged. "I'm seriously starting to consider home school for Vanessa, that way she can never leave this house ever again on top of being grounded."

I laughed, "Edward, she is just an angry hormonal teenage girl. She probably misses her mom and most likely feels like your trying to replace her with me. In fact I will bet you anything that she is out with a boy right now."

He groaned and let his head fall into his hands. "She's fifteen years old! She shouldn't be around any boys until she's thirty!"

I grabbed one of his hands. "Edward, how old were you when you were first with a girl?"

"That's different, I was a horny teenage boy." He said.

I smirked. "My point exactly. I'm guessing you were around her age when you first started to really discover the other gender. How do you think that girls father felt?"

"Precisely how I'm feeling right now." He mumbled. "But, I'll have you know that I was a perfect gentlemen. She was the one who suggested it. From Vanessa's behavior and attire I can only guess what the boys are like that she hangs out with."

I nodded in agreement. "Your right, but Vanessa is a smart girl, I can tell that already and I'm sure she will be fine. And believe me when I say I am just as worried as you are but I have been thinking about it and I think she will be fine."

Ness POV

I looked at the clock, it was nearly five. Everyone was over at Jakes house having a good time.

I walked up to Jake plopping myself down on his lap. He gave me a quick kiss before grabbing a pipe that was sitting on the table and lit it up taking a long drag, blowing the smoke out. Coyly took the pipe from his hand sticking it in my mouth allowing him to light it up for me. I took as much in as I could before I blew the smoke into his mouth and he blew it back to me.

I smiled bringing his lips to mine slipping my tongue inside of his mouth. One hand in his black hair the other hand traveling down his torso to his belt buckle. His hands squeezed my ass lifting me up and he carried us up the stairs towards his room. I brought my lips to his throat, nipping and sucking as I went further down.

He kicked the door open, slamming it behind us and sat down on the edge of his enormous bed. I pushed down on his shoulders causing him to fall backwards. I straddled his waist and continued to kiss him then moving back towards his neck and when I reached his collar bone I pulled on the bottom of his shirt signaling him to take it off. He did so and I couldn't help but marvel at his toned muscle.

I wanted to lick those abs, which was exactly what I did, causing Jake to shiver and the muscles flex beneath me.

I knew exactly what he wanted and I gave him just that.

"That had to have been the best head I have ever gotten." He said pulling his boxers on and grabbing me laying me next to him where we continued to make out, our hands traveling. At one point my tank top came off and he was fondling my chest under the fabric of my green lace bra.

After a while we stopped and I said something I wish didn't have to happen. "Babe, I have to go home."

"No you don't." he said pulling me tighter against him. I looked at the clock that was sitting on his bedside table and it read six forty five.

"Can you please give me a ride home?" I asked kissing him again. "I promise to give you head again tomorrow." I said leading him on.

He groaned and got up. "Fine." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek and put my tank top on before walking down the stairs to find my shoes and sweatshirt. When I finally found them Jacob was waiting at the door with his keys in hand.

We drove through town going down the streets with his hand rubbing my thigh under my skirt. My skirt was extremely short when I was sitting down.

It was nearly seven fifteen when we finally reached my house and I saw that the lights were off which was surprising. I didn't know if my dad would be sitting in my room or in the living room but I guess I could deal with whatever happens. Its not like he was going to lock me in my room forever.

I gave Jake a kiss before hopping out. My keys fell out of my pocket and I bent over to pick it up and turned around to see Jake staring right at my ass. I smirked and strutted up to the front door opening it and locking it.

There was no sign of anyone and I quietly shuffled up to my room and changed into some sweats and washed my face. I started to work on my homework and before I knew it, it was ten o'clock. I yawned and put my books away and shut off the light wondering what kind of punishment I would be getting tomorrow morning.


	11. Chapter 11

_**She's All That**_

* * *

_Chapter 11_

_EPOV_

The padding of feet on the floor caught my attention as I was slicing up some ham for the eggs. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Vanessa reaching into the refrigerator for her breakfast. She didn't say anything to me and I finally figured out what I was going to do with her.

I was going to treat her with the same respect that she treated me with.

I brushed past her setting toast on the table and returned to the eggs, putting the ham in as well as some salt and pepper.

A pale arm reached into the cabinet next to me pulling out a coffee cup. "Morning Edward," Bella mumbled sleep still evident in her voice.

"Good morning Bella," I said with a smile. "I hope you're in the mood for ham and eggs with some toast."

She put the coffee pot back in its place and brought the mug to her lips. "That sounds amazing. You wouldn't happen to have any hot salsa?"

I nodded and gestured towards the fridge.

As I was putting the eggs onto the table Scotty appeared at the bottom of the steps and sat down in a chair next to the one Bella was sitting at. I sat at my usual spot at the head of the table and everyone except for Vanessa served him or herself and continued to eat in silence.

"Did you have a good time last night Vanessa?" Bella asked.

Vanessa looked up from her yogurt, her bangs falling in her face with a look of confusion. "Yeah I did." She said almost in a question. "Why do you care?"

Bella shrugged. "It was just a question, being polite. You were out past curfew on a school night so wherever you were, you must have been having a good time."

"Well I did." Vanessa said defensively.

Bella nodded paying more attention to her eggs than she was to Vanessa and I couldn't help but smirk at the situation. I guess Bella was thinking something close to what I had been this morning. We had discussed it over dinner last night, trying to figure out something to do with Vanessa but neither of us had come up with anything. This would work.

Bella finished and took Scotty upstairs to help him get ready for school and Vanessa and I went our separate ways as well. Bella met me at the top of the stairs after I finished getting ready.

"So are you giving her the silent treatment or what?" she asked readjusting my tie.

I ignored the intimacy of the gesture and answered the question. "Just treating her the way she treats me."

"Sounds like a good plan." She said and walked down the stairs ahead of me.

I grabbed my briefcase from the office and met up with everyone in the kitchen. Bella was handing Scotty his lunch and gave Vanessa a twenty-dollar bill.

"You know, you don't have to give her any money for lunch. She has money." I told Bella standing next her.

She smiled at me, her mahogany hair framing her heart shaped face. "Its no problem, honestly. And don't even think about paying me back."

A light bulb went off in my head. "That reminds me, we still haven't figured out what your wages are. How about we discuss this over dinner tonight? I know a great sushi place that we could go to."

"That sounds great but what about Scotty? If Vanessa isn't going to come home, especially since its Friday, what are we going to do with him?" she asked quietly.

I thought about it for a minute. "Scotty? How do you feel about going to Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight?"

"Yay! Is Nessie coming too? Can we go see a movie and have ice cream?" he asked bouncing up and down in his seat.

I shrugged. "Its up to your sister whether or not she wants to go." I said looking at her who gave me a look of disgust. "And if it's okay with your grandparents then yes you can do all those things."

"And this gives us an excuse for you to meet my parents." I said turning towards Bella.

She laughed. "You make it sound like we have been dating and its that awkward moment when everyone meets the parents."

"It will be awkward, that's a given." I told her honestly. I hadn't told anyone that I had hired a woman to be my nanny/mother figure. "But I'm sure it will be fine."

Her eyes went wide when I said that it would be awkward. She covered it up with a bright smile "It's a date."

"I'll call you later with details." I said leaving the room, reminding myself not to kiss her on the cheek like I had the day before.

Arriving at work I received my usual welcome from all the nurses at the stations that I passed by. "Good morning Doctor Cullen," with a long lingering glance.

Of course being the polite gentleman that I was I would wave back.

I entered my office shutting the door behind me and checked my appointments for the day. Nothing for the next hour or so, so that gave me time to call my mother.

The phone rang twice before there was an answer. "Cullen residence, Esme speaking."

Yes my mother was that proper. "Hi mom." I said.

"Oh Edward dear! How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Fantastic, now to what do I owe the pleasure of having my youngest son call me?"

Right to the point, but politely. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind having Scotty for the weekend? I have a date tonight and Vanessa has plans with a friend," a white lie, she didn't need to know. "And since it's so late notice I couldn't find a baby sitter and well, your next in line."

There was a giggle from the other end. "Oh Edward you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!"

"Well it's a-" I started but she cut me off.

"Do I get to meet her tonight? Bring her with you when you come to drop off Scotty!" she said excitedly.

"Mom, it's a first date."

"Oh." She said dumbly.

"But," I continued. "You will be meeting her."

"Oh that's wonderful! I can't wait! What's her name, what does she look like? Where does she live, how old is she?" she just kept pumping out the questions like they were her lifeline.

"Her name is Bella, and that's all you need to know. It's only a first date. We will see where things go from here, and then you can interrogate her alright?"

My mother huffed from the other end. "Fine, I will see you tonight. I love you." She hung up without another word from my end and I chuckled setting the phone back in its resting place.

Was this really a date or was it just business like I had said this morning? She had said it's a date, but that didn't really mean anything did it? Date could mean anything, something you put on the calendar, the date of something. When did I turn into a teenage girl?

There was a knock at the door and Tanya, one of the nurses on the ward came in. "The child in room two thirty four is ready to see you now." She said through gritted teeth and then shut the door.

I shook my head; the child couldn't be that bad, Tanya was probably a bit touchy this morning.

TPOV

"Dr. Cullen will be with you in just a moment Hon," I said and shut the door heading down to the office where Edward was. Yes I could just press a button and he would be notified of which room to go to, but why not see him in person?

I walked up to the door and heard him talking. He must have been on the phone.

"I have a date tonight and Vanessa has plans with a friend, and since it's so late notice I couldn't find a baby sitter and well, your next in line." He said.

It's about time! It's been nearly three weeks since we had our first date! He hadn't called me the next day or anything. Oh he is such a boy, trying to be all manly.

"Mom," Meeting the parents already? He must think we have a future together! Oh that's so sweet! I bit my lip and kept listening. "It's a first date." First date? What did he think that the one three weeks ago didn't count or something?

"But, you will be meeting her." I bit back a squeal. He sounded frustrated when he spoke again. "Her name is Bella, and that's all you need to know. It's only a first date. We will see where things go from here, and then you can interrogate her alright?"

Who the hell is Bella? The name didn't ring a bell. No one here at the hospital was named Bella or Isabel or Isabella.

I waited for him to get hang up before I walked in. "The child in room two thirty four is ready to see you now." I said trying my hardest not to show how angry I truly was. Even if it did show he would probably blame it on the kid who was such a sweetheart.

Now all I had to do was find out who the fuck this home wrecker Bella was and everything would be back to how it should be.

EPOV

It was five thirty when I arrived home and I made the reservation for seven thirty. I found Scotty in the living room watching television and then went upstairs to start getting ready.

I couldn't find Vanessa anywhere but I tried not to focus on her and focused on the dinner that I was going to have with Bella tonight.

I met Bella downstairs at six and was amazed seeing what she was wearing. I had put on a casual blue dress shirt and black pants and she was wearing a black dress that fell to her knees. It cinched under her breasts and hung low with chiffon sleeves that cut off just below her shoulder. She looked breathtaking.

"I hope we aren't going anywhere fancy." She said looking me up and down. I wasn't dressed all that fancy. My shirt wasn't even tucked in.

I shook my head and cleared my throat. "No just a sushi joint down the road."

She smiled. "Well I got Scotty all packed for two days at your parents place like you said."

"Great, then should we get going?" I asked and she nodded walking into the other room bringing my son, back out with her.

Twenty minutes later we arrived at my parents house. We entered the gate and parked in the roundabout driveway.

"Are you ready to spend some time with your grandparents!" I asked turning around to look at Scotty.

"Yeah!" he replied and continued to unbuckle his seatbelt and exit the car running through the gravel and up the steps pounding as hard as he could on the door.

Bella took a deep breath and I took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and smiled before getting out. My mother had already opened up the door and was talking animatedly to my son.

My father stepped up behind my mother and put a loving hand on her shoulder.

"Hey," I said coming up the steps.

Both parents looked up and smiled. "Hello Edward." My mother said. "And you must be Bella."

Bella nodded sheepishly.

"I'm Esme and this is my husband Carlisle." She said gesturing to her husband. "Would you two like to come in for a little while?"

I looked at my watch. "I suppose we have some time to kill."


	12. Chapter 12

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 12_

_EPOV_

"Well, come on in!" my mother said and walked through the door leading into the foyer.

Everyone walked in and my mother seated us in the living room. I sat by Bella on the couch and my parents took the love seat while Scotty was put in the game room and left to his own devices.

"So Bella, do you mind if I ask your last name?" my mother asked politely sipping her tea.

"Swan, Isabella Swan. But as Edward told you I go by Bella." Bella replied as politely as possible. She must have figured out by now that my mother was the perfect mother/housewife figure. The one who had the membership to the nicest country club in town and gossiped with all her friends.

"That's a lovely name."

"Oh, thank you." Bella said seeming to have let out a breath.

My mother smiled an approving smile. "So, do you live in town? How did you meet my son?"

"Well I found his ad in the paper and I'm living with him at the moment." Bella said confidently.

My smile faltered and I looked at Bella and then looked at my parents. My parents were currently staring at each other in shock and then returned to look at us.

"Oh, well that's lovely dear." My mother said as calmly as possible and then stood up. "Edward, do you think I could have a moment with you in the kitchen? There's something that I need to show you."

We walked into the kitchen and my mother shut the sliding door. "How dare you bring that white trash into my house! How can you disrespect me like that?" she whisper-screamed.

"Mom,"

"And she's living with you? Do your children know what you two are up to in your bedroom? How can you sleep at night?" my mother kept ranting.

"Mother." I said more firmly causing her to stop and look at me. "She's not a prostitute." I said laughing.

"Well then what the hell is she?" my mother hardly ever cursed. She was too much of a lady to do such a thing.

"The nanny, a mother type figure. I needed help taking care of everything. Vanessa is becoming more and more…" I searched for the word that would work. "Independent." That would work. "My schedule is getting crazier and Scotty still needs taking care of and I just can't do that by myself. Bella has only been at our house for a week. This a business dinner. I was hoping that you wouldn't have found out like this but Bella didn't know."

She let out a huge breath. "So you two aren't sleeping together?"

"Not currently no." Currently? Was I planning on sleeping with her? I'm not adverse to the idea of sleeping with Bella, but I don't think that it would be a good business plan. Awkward.

She raised her eyebrow. "Currently? Are you planning on it?" my mother asked in a disapproving tone, one that I had heard countless times before.

I sighed. "No mom, you know what I mean."

"Obviously I don't."

"No, we are not and I haven't planned on us sleeping together." I said making it as clear as possible.

She nodded. "It's good to know I raised a respectable young man."

I laughed. "I'm not all that young anymore. I turn thirty five this year."

"Oh posh," my mother scoffed playing with the lapel on my shirt. "Your still the youngest. Stop making me feel like an old woman. Besides, you're going to be the youngest good-looking single father at peewee football. Just think of all the single forty year old mothers you'll be meeting."

"Don't remind me." I grumbled. "I've gone to some of the PTA meetings before."

She laughed and looked at the diamond-studded watch on her wrist. "Well it seems I have wasted all the time you have berating you about your love life."

"I'm used to it."

She gave me a mock slap on the cheek and shooed me out the door.

"I am so sorry Bella that we didn't really get a chance to talk. Oh I have an idea! We can have a dinner party! Invite your brother and Jasper and their wives as well!" my mother said and seemed to already have on her mind what the menu would be.

Bella smiled. "That sounds wonderful, don't you think Edward?"

I nodded. "I'll talk to you later." And walked out the door getting into the car as quick as possible.

"So did you get to know my dad pretty well?" I asked starting the car.

"No actually, not really." I looked at her confused. "Your father is the complete opposite from your mother. Your mother seems to be very forward and well, if you have ever seen Desperate Housewives, almost exactly like Bree Van de Camp."

I nodded in understanding. Alice, my best friend Jasper's wife, was watching reruns at our house while theirs was being remodeled. "My mother has always been that way. She just knew how to raise her children better than the character Bree did."

Bella laughed and the car went into a silence just like the ride over.

We pulled up to the restaurant and I walked to the passenger side, helping Bella out. "You are such a gentleman. It's almost annoying."

I snorted. "I can be ungentlemanly if that's what you prefer. It's pretty easy to switch back and forth between personalities."

She shook her head as I held the door open for her. Oh the sweet smell of raw dead fish. Makes me want to puke and buy all the Febreze in the world.

We were quickly brought to our seats. "All you can eat?" the waiter asked with a thick accent.

"Sounds good to me," I said and looked to Bella who nodded at the man.

We went through the menu ordering almost every roll that they had. "I don't think we are going to be able to finish all that food." Bella said when we gave our list to the waiter.

I shrugged, "Its fine. Besides I'm really hungry so I hope you get some."

She laughed. "I didn't realize that being in a doctors office all day can make someone that hungry."

"There's a lot of walking involved." I said defensively.

"Oh I'm sure."

I took a sip of my beer. "So, you've been with us a week." I said. "Cheers,"

She smirked lifting her iced tea.

"Do you plan on sticking around?" I wondered looking at her.

Bella looked down seeming to be thinking. "I don't know, I haven't decided."

"Oh yeah?"

She nodded. "There's this adorable little boy that even in one week I have just gotten so attached to, then there's this teenager who hasn't gotten over her mother leaving and has it out for everyone. But there's a dad that I can't seem to stop thinking about. If that's not too bold."

I couldn't stop the smirk. "I think that dad is thinking the same thing. Just about the woman he recently hired."

She smiled.

We had feelings for each other, and now that was in the open. But we were doing business. That's what hiring her was. Business, not pleasure. Though I desperately hoped that it might turn to pleasure. Just not tonight.

"So what do you think would be a good salary now that you have gotten a taste of us?" I asked.

Bella seemed to be taken aback. She cleared her throat and sat up straight. "Is there a limit to what your willing to pay?"

I shook my head. "It's up to you to decide. A high amount means you're probably a bit too confident in yourself. Too low means you have no idea what your doing and have no faith whatsoever." I said goading her on.

She raised her right eyebrow and pursed her lips. "Being honest, I have no idea what I am doing, but of course you know that, but I'm not going to give up that easily Mr. Cullen." Aw, no more Edward? "Taking into consideration that I will be cooking sometimes, possibly buying groceries, and of course taking cleaning and taking care of Scotty." She said stirring the lemon in her tea. "How about one five."

"Fifteen hundred a week?"

Bella nodded, seeming to dare me to object.

"Well Ms. Swan, it seems we have come to an agreement." I said holding my hand out across the table.

She took my hand and shook it firmly. "I expect my checks to start rolling in every Sunday starting next week."

"Deal."


	13. Chapter 13

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 13_

_BPOV_

The ride home after that dinner was a little more than awkward. The tension was so thick to the point of insanity. I kept stealing glances at Edward but his eyes remained trained on the road. I chewed on my nail wondering if this was how the rest of our time together was going to be.

A business transaction with no feelings shown. I would just be the nanny that he came home to.

I don't know what was going through my head when I said that there was certain father figure that I was having feelings for. It was like word vomit. But instead of him freaking out and firing me, he said that he returned the affections. He didn't freak out until after that. And it wasn't really freaking out; it was like another person took over his body and from then on dinner was treated as if it was a meeting with a huge client sealing the big deal that would earn him a promotion.

I wasn't sure I liked that.

And then his parents. You could see it written all over their faces when I said I was living with Edward. They thought I was some kind of courtesan that Edward brought with him everywhere like a pimp. His mother was a well-composed woman, but the eyes. They turned hard and cold. Edward's father looked shocked not saying a word. I could definitely see who wore the pants in that relationship. Reminds me of my grandparents.

When Esme and Edward left the room Carlisle had shifted uncomfortably in his leather chair. I wasn't sure if I should have explained myself to him or just sit there in silence. In the end I just ended up awkwardly saying that they have a nice home. A polite thank you was all that I received in return, no eye contact whatsoever.

Now we were expected to go to a dinner party? With his close friends and family? I think I needed to watch Ferris Bueler a few times to give myself a refresher on how to act sick.

When we arrived home he wordlessly exited the car and walked up the pathway to the front door, leaving it open for me when I reached it. I sighed heavily and raised my eyebrows. Was this really how it was going to be? No verbal communication unless it was necessary? I might just have to quit and force myself to write that damn book.

I shut the door behind me and locked it. Edward must have already gone up to his room because there was no one to be found on the first floor. I kicked off my shoes and hung up my jacket before walking up the stairs to my room. I passed by Edward's room acting like a teenager again and flipping off the shut door before reaching my own.

I groaned stretching out the next morning. Saturday, who knew what would be happening today. I got up out of the bed, sloppily making it and pulled on my lavender silk robe. I went to the bathroom brushing my teeth and running a brush through the tangles of my hair.

I stumbled sleepily down the steps of the staircase before finally reaching the kitchen. Edward wasn't in there and neither was Nessie. I poured my coffee and walked into the living room where Edward was sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table, a cup of coffee in his own hands. His hair was more of a mess than usual and had a nice rugged stubble look going on.

"Morning," I mumbled curling up on the loveseat.

He nodded to me in return and flipped through the channels on the television. Still no talking? Really? I stared down at my coffee cup before getting up and leaving the room. I grabbed a bagel from the kitchen before clomping back up the stairs to my bedroom where I flipped on a movie. If he wants to be antisocial, fine. I can be antisocial. I was all throughout high school.

About half way through my movie there was a knock at my door. "Come in," I called.

Edward opened the door freshly shaven with dark wash jeans and white v-neck short sleeve shirt on. And we can't forget the worn out converse that look like he's been wearing them since high school. It was the most casual outfit I had seen him in yet and I must say that I liked it. But of course I couldn't tell him that. "I'm going to pick up Scotty. I think Nessie is still sleeping."

"Is there anything you need me to do today?" I asked.

He nodded. "The bathroom downstairs and if you wanted to get started on laundry, that would be great." He said and shut the door.

I have never felt more low class in my life. This wouldn't be that bad if he actually was treating me like a person and part of the family like he had before. But now all I am to him is a maid that also took care of the kids. I looked at the clock seeing that it was nearly eleven thirty.

I hopped in the shower quickly and got dressed in a pair of little jean shorts and an army green racer back tank top. I gathered up my own laundry leaving a pile outside my door before I went to Scotty's room picking up all the clothes that were strewn about and then getting the ones that were actually in the hamper.

I tried to avoid Vanessa's room as much as I could and walked into Edward's room, somewhere I had yet to visit. I walked in timidly, not sure if he would allow me to be in here. How else was I supposed to get his laundry? He hadn't left a pile outside for me to pick up.

Snoop time.

The room was a beige color with white trim. There was a huge black wrought iron four post bed on the right wall and the comforter was a dark chocolaty brown with white sheets. In front of the bed on the left wall there was a long cherry dresser that held tons of drawers with a plasma screen television sitting on top of it. There were nick-knacks all over the place. Two lamps were on either side of the bed on its own cherry bedside table. I walked passed the bed seeing the door to the bathroom. The back wall had French double doors leading out to a deck with white drapes pushed back.

The walk in closet was next to the double doors and I searched for a clothesbasket. It was in the back and I couldn't help but see how organized this man was. All of his dress shirts were organized by color, as were his nice pants. His shoes were neatly lined up and his ties were color coded as well. I didn't even want to see his bathroom in fear of how anal he was.

I pulled the clothes out of the hamper and scurried out. The man had taste.

I gathered all the clothes and tossed them down all the stairs landing with a _thunk _at the bottom of the stairs. The washer and dryer were in the mudroom, separating the house from the two-car garage. I separated out the whites and the darks, the cotton from the delicates. Hope they didn't mind the way I did laundry. And I hope Edward didn't mind lavender honey fabric softener. With the way he's been acting, smelling like a girl would just complete him.

After I had a load going I grabbed the bathroom cleaning supplies and set to work. When I was almost finished with the tub there was a knock on the door and a clearing of a throat. I lifted my head and saw Edward standing there leaning against the doorframe. He had a smirk on his face and I thought about the position I was currently in. and that position would be bent over the side of the tub with my ass in the air. Cute.

"How's it going in here?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I'm getting everything done like you asked. There's a load of laundry in the washer."

He nodded. "I'm making sandwiches for lunch. You like potato and macaroni salad right?"

I nodded and he left so I returned back to my task of tub scrubbing. When I finished I put everything back to where it was supposed to go and put the wet clothes in the dryer before starting another load in the washer.

Walking into the kitchen I wiped the sweat off my forehead and grabbed a Pepsi from the fridge. "What kind of meat and cheese?" Edward asked from the counter

"Turkey and sharp cheddar." I replied icily. His attitude was really starting to piss me off.

"Bella!" an excited voice yelled from the kitchen table. I turned around watching Scotty scramble out of his chair and run over to me wrapping his arms around my legs. I almost fell over but caught myself on the fridge.

"Hey buddy, how was your grandparents house?" I asked patting his head.

I caught Edward looking at us with a smile on his face before he caught my eye and returned to cutting up sandwiches.

"It was so fun! We watched Depicable Me!" he said stumbling on the word despicable and I giggled at how cute he sounded. "And grandma let me have ice cream with cookies on top!"

"That sounds awesome! Wish I could have been there!" I told him honestly. Truly that sounded much more fun and entertaining than the dinner that I wish had never happened last night. If we hadn't gone out to dinner I bet you that everything would still be the same. Edward would treat me like I belonged in the family and not just the help.

There was still no sign of Vanessa and I hoped that she would wake up soon so that I could get the laundry out of her room. We munched on our sandwiches and let Scotty describe his favorite parts of the movie so we ended up with a play by play of the entire movie. I no longer needed that movie on my Netflix list.


	14. Chapter 14

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 14_

_EPOV_

I lay in bed all night thinking about dinner. I had been a total dick. Why? I have no idea. I guess I felt that if I let things get too personal that they could end badly. Its like my inner wall of China was built right then and there blocking me from thinking correctly.

At some point in the night I fell asleep but it wasn't long before I woke up again at eight o'clock. When I got out of bed and went downstairs I noticed that Bella wasn't up. I was surprised. She was usually up before I was. I toasted myself a bagel with cream cheese and grabbed my usual cup of coffee. I plopped on the couch and started flipping through the channels. The news was depressing and boring, the only thing I honestly cared about was the weather and seeing that it was going to be a nice day out I turned on a movie.

I heard footsteps on the stairs and glanced backwards seeing Bella in a silk robe accenting the curves of her sexy body. She walked into the kitchen and I returned to the television and began to flip thorught the channels once more. Bella came over and took a seat.

"Morning," she said in a hopeful tone. I felt like getting down on my knees and apologizing and begging for her forgiveness. In fact, I was picturing myself doing that. Pretty sad.

I nodded in return knowing that if I opened my mouth I would jump off the couch and do just that. She sighed and stared at her cup of coffee. I continued to ignore her, only watching from the corner of my eye and I let out a sigh when she got up and walked back into the kitchen before walking up the stairs once more.

I rested my elbows on my knees and ran my hands through my hair tugging on the ends. I rinsed out my cup and walked up the stairs. I took a shower and just because I was going to my mothers house I shaved. But I threw on my old pair of converse from my senior year in high school. I had to piss my parents off some how right?

I walked up to Bella's bedroom and hesitated in knocking. I took a deep breath and knocked.

"Come in." she answered softly sounding distracted. I opened the door only a little bit before opening it all the way.

I leaned against the doorframe and didn't say anything. She was staring at me. Looking me up and down with a look in her eyes I saw from women all the time. One of the seven sins, lust. Glad I had her approval. I held back my smirk and spoke. "I'm going to pick up Scotty. I think Nessie is still sleeping." Honestly I had no clue if she was even here. I hadn't checked on her last night nor had I this morning. Bad parenting, I know.

"Is there anything you need me to do today?" she asked.

I nodded at her. "The bathroom downstairs and if you wanted to get started on laundry that would be great." I said and slowly watched the calm expression on her face turn into that of a frown. I knew I was being rude, but I was not going to let this get personal.

I shut the door and jogged down the stairs grabbing my sunglasses and keys off the table and walked out to the Volvo.

Arriving at my parents house I could smell pancakes and syrup on the porch. The front door was open and having grown up in this house I opened up the screen. "Knock, knock!" I called out.

"Edward!" I heard my mother call loudly from the kitchen. I walked through and found my mother at the oven and my father and son sitting at the table with big plates of everything a person could dream of for breakfast. "You hungry? There is plenty more for you." She said gesturing towards the mountain of pancakes. The woman could cook, and she cooked for armies. She had to with my brother around. He could pack it away for three people. "Oh I wish you would just throw those darn shoes away." She grumbled and I gave her my best smile.

"That smells great." I said pulling a plate out and grabbing all the food I thought I could eat. I sat down next to Scotty who hadn't touched anything on his plate. "Dig in buddy!" I said stabbing my fork into my pancakes and shoveling them into my mouth. Scotty gave me a big semi-toothy grin and starting cutting away at his food.

My mother sat herself down at the table with a much smaller portioned plate than the rest of us. My father hadn't said much, not that he ever really did. He commented about bulking up for football and that was about it. But judging by the contented smile on his face he didn't need to say anything. "So Edward," my mother said catching my attention.

"Yes, Mom?"

She smiled at my half eaten plate before continuing. "I was thinking about the dinner party last night. I was thinking maybe Wednesday? Are you busy that night?"

I put my fork down and thought for a moment. "Is everyone going to be there? All the kids?"

"Well I would certainly hope so," she said.

I laughed darkly. "Well don't exactly count on Vanessa being there. I will try my best to get her to be here and on her best behavior, but she is being a rebellious teenager and not listening to anything I have to say and not coming home until late at night." My mother gave me that disapproving look. "Hey, I am doing the best I can. I grounded her and took away everything. She is leaving after school with her friends and because I have her phone I cant contact her. Not that she answered when I called anyway."

My mom shook her head and sighed. She lifted her napkin and dabbed at her eyes wiping away tears. "She is just like her mother." She said and took in a shaky breath. "I hoped that she would never be like that."

I shrugged. "I honestly don't know what to do anymore. Its not like I can just take her out of school and lock her in the house."

"No, I know. I am just so disappointed." She said sadly picking at her food.

"Don't worry about it too much. I am sure that in time she will learn to grow out of it. Either she will learn to or something will happen causing her to grow up." I told her calmly. "She is half Cullen, she will grow up eventually." She gave me a half smile and nodded. "Hey, I'll call everyone up and see if they have plans and that if they do they need to change them."

"Thank you Edward." My mother said in a thick voice.

We finished breakfast and hung out for a while and watched a movie. I grabbed Scotty's things and we were on the road back home. Scotty sat in the back with a big smile on his face as usual. We pulled into the driveway and before the car was shut off Scotty had scrambled out of the car and ran up to the door waiting impatiently for me to open it.

The smell inside the house was one of soap. I could hear the faint noise of the washing machine and I walked to the bathroom. The door was open and you could hear the sound of the scrubbing from outside.

Oh hot damn. Bella was bending over the side of the tub wearing a pair of tiny barely there shorts with her ass in the air. I stared lazily at her shapely ass and smirked. I knocked on the door and she turned around looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"How's it going in here?" I asked.

She shrugged, "I'm getting everything done like you asked. There's a load of laundry in the washer."

I nodded and stepped away from the door. "I'm making sandwiches for lunch. You like potato and macaroni salad right?"

She nodded and returned to her scrubbing. I left without another word and went to the kitchen. Scotty was sitting at the table expectantly. "Are you hungry little man?" I asked pulling the things for sandwiches.

"Oh yeah," he said.

I laughed a little and started making everything. I turned around when I heard footsteps and saw Bella coming in wiping off her forehead, her long hair hanging down her back. Her green tank top was low cut revealing cleavage and my pants suddenly became quite uncomfortable. I kept myself busy at the counter keeping my back to her.

"What kind of meat and cheese?" I asked as calmly as possible.

She slammed the door of the fridge shut. "Turkey and sharp cheddar." She said coldly. I had three days to make amends before the party. I could already tell that it wasn't going to be easy to do.

"Bella!" Scotty yelled getting up from his place at the table. He tackled her into the fridge and she mussed his hair with a laugh. I smiled at how much my son loved her. He thought of her as a mother, I knew he did. Maybe…

"Hey buddy, how was your grandparents house?" she asked and caught me looking at their motherly/sonly embrace and I turned away to finish the sandwiches.

I put the sandwiches on the table and Scotty looked up at Bella adoringly. "It was so fun! We watched Depicable Me!" he said missing the word despicable causing Bella to cutely giggle. "And grandma let me have ice cream with cookies on top!"

"That sounds awesome! Wish I could have been there!" I could hear the sincerity in her voice and I dropped my head. Last night could have been amazing night had I not ruined everything with my irrational fears of the heart. I am turning into such a woman.

We sat down at the table and ate contentedly. The sound of the front door opening startled me and I got up to see what was going on. Vanessa came stumbling in with her big sunglasses on. Her clothes were a mess and she didn't have shoes on.

"Well hello." I said. She looked at me and waved before walking up the staircase, stumbling on a few of the steps. "Dear god, help me." I grumbled to myself and returned to my seat.

"Vanessa just got home?" Bella asked curiously. "Great," she mumbled and got up from the table and went up the stairs. A few minutes later she came back down with a bundle of laundry in her hands that she threw in the washroom. "More laundry for me." She said dejectedly as she sat back down taking a big bite into her sandwich.

"Is Vanessa alright?" I asked.

She nodded. "She's just passed out. I'm guessing she's got a really bad hangover."

"Fantastic,"

"What's a hangover? And why does Nessie have one?" Scotty asked.

Bella glanced at me with wide eyes. "It's nothing, just an expression. You'll find out when your older." I told him.

Bella raised her eyebrow and gave me a disapproving look. Giving her my best "what else was I supposed to say?" look I finished my lunch.

I cleaned up the mess and went into my bedroom and pulled out my cell phone. I dialed Alice's, my best friends girl friend, number, she was in charge of all their extracurricular activities. "Hello?" she asked in her tinkling little voice.

"Hey Alice,"

"What's up Edward?" she asked.

"Do you and Jasper have plans for Wednesday night? My mom is having a dinner party and wants all of us to be there. I volunteered to call everyone."

"Hm," she said, thinking. "I don't think we do. If we do its nothing important since I cant remember. We will be there!" she said.

"That's great," a thought came to mind. "Hey can you do me a favor?"

"Depends, whats the favor?" she asked nervously.

"Its Vanessa," I said. "I was wondering, do you think that maybe you could call her and make plans to pick her up after school on Wednesday and go shopping? Maybe you could have a talk on responsibility since she just came home with a hangover from hell. God knows what she was doing last night." I said tugging on my hair.

"Uh," she mumbled. "Yeah sure, I needed to go shopping anyway. Maybe we can get Rosalie along."

I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "That sounds fantastic, thank you so much."

"No problem, I'm glad to help. And I'll call Nessie later. Talk to you soon!" she said.

We hung up and I called Emmett next. He asked Rosalie for me about going shopping with Alice and Vanessa and she was more than happy to tag along and play teenage mommy. Especially since she was four months pregnant, she didn't know what she was having yet, wanting to keep it a surprise, but if it was a girl she wanted to see what a teenage daughter would be like. Of course Nessie was the worst of what a daughter could be like, but why not prepare.

Everyone was on board for the party and I called my mom to let her know.

I walked around the house searching for Bella but couldn't find her. When I walked back upstairs I found her bedroom door shut. I knocked timidly on the door, afraid of the conversation that I was going to have to have.

She answered the door and I saw piles of laundry on the bed, some folded, others not. "Can I help you?"

"I was wondering if we could talk." I said. She looked at me expectantly. "About last night," I clarified.

"Well unfortunately for you, I'm not in the mood to talk, so if you'll excuse me." She said and shut the door in my face.

I took a deep breath and leaned my back against the wall. "Well fuck." I muttered. I really got myself in deep on this one.


	15. Chapter 15

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 15_

_EPOV_

I woke up the next morning with a plan. I got up and jogged downstairs. It was only eight and judging by the way Bella got up the yesterday I would have plenty of time to get everything all ready. Scotty was downstairs watching cartoons and walked in after hearing me in the kitchen.

"Morning Daddy," he said sitting down.

"Hey bud, want some juice?" after the last time he tried getting juice on his own, it was agreed that he should wait until I got up, or he had to drink the juice boxes that were for lunch. He was picky with his juice. Just like I was picky with only drinking juice or coffee, no water or milk. It doesn't taste right in the morning.

He nodded. "I want orange juice."

I nodded and grabbed the juice out of the fridge and poured him a big glass which he chugged half the entire thing. I had a really bad mental image of Scotty all grown up at a kegger. He was the king of the keg in that mental picture.

I pushed that thought from my mind and pulled out the cookbook that my mom gave me when I moved out of the house. It was stained with old batter and sauces and splattered oil. I flipped through the pages and stared at the page for waffles.

"What's for breakfast?" Scotty asked coming up to me.

"You and I are having cereal while I am making something extra special for Bella." I told him and pulled out all the cereals for him.

"Why does Bella get something special?" he wondered.

I looked at him. "I did something bad and I need Bella to forgive me. So, I'm sucking up and hoping that she will forgive me. And soon."

"Oh, okay…" he said sullenly. I know that he really wanted something sweet like waffles for breakfast.

"Maybe you can do me a favor while also getting waffles." I said sneakily.

The mention of waffles caught his attention. "What do I have to do?" he asked excitedly.

I whispered in his ear exactly what he needed to say and he nodded smiling when I finished. "But, you only get your waffles when you come back down."

His smile faltered a little bit but then he perked back up. He stood by my side waiting for everything to finish. I pulled out the little breakfast in bed table that I had gotten as a Christmas present a few years ago. I put the waffles in the oven to keep them warm and continued to cook some bacon and eggs and cut up some fresh oranges and put them in a bowl with some strawberries. I didn't know what she liked so just put everything that sounds like an amazing breakfast on a platter.

I finished off with a cup of apple juice and hot chocolate and coffee, whichever one she likes. By the time I was putting the finishing touches on Bella's breakfast it was nearly ten. I cant believe it took me two hours to do all of that.

I grabbed the tray and carefully walked up the stairs. I stopped at Bella's door and set the tray down, not being able to hold the tray and knock on the door at the same time, I set down the tray and knocked.

A tired sounding "come in" gave me the okay and I opened the door a little bit before grabbing the tray again and pushed the door the rest of the way open. Bella was sitting up in her bed with the television on and some movie playing.

"Edward," she said and seemed to wake up a little bit more. "Is there something that I can help you with?"

I shook my head. "Not today. Today I wanted to do something nice for you. It's an a apology breakfast." I said and sat the tray down in front of her. "I know you don't forgive me for the way I acted, but I'm hoping that it's a start."

She just looked at me with pursed lips and her arms folded over her chest. "Thanks." She said and didn't touch her food before I left.

When I came back down Scotty was standing there at the bottom of the stairs. "Not yet," I told him. "Give it a few more minutes."

"But I want waffles!" Scotty whined.

"You will have your waffles, give her five minutes to start eating and then you go in and work your magic." I said ruffling his hair.

"Fine," he said and crossed his arms.

I started washing the dishes and looked at the clock. Scotty was sitting at the table and staring at the plate of waffles that were sitting on the counter. "I think it might be okay for you to go up now." I told him quietly.

His face lit up and he started up the stairs. He knocked on the door and I heard the door open and close. I walked up the stairs quietly and stood by the door trying to listen in on the conversation.

"Daddy's really sorry…" Scotty said dejectedly. "And I don't want you guys to be mad at each other anymore. Would you please forgive him?"

"Scotty would you hold on for a minute?" she said and I heard a rustling and the sound of glasses clanking together.

The door suddenly opened and I almost fell back on my ass out of shock and was now face to face with one pissed off Bella. "Can we go outside for a minute?" she asked grabbing my arm and dragging me down the stairs. She took us to the sliding back doors and we stepped outside. She shut the door and turned to me again. "What the hell were you thinking? Using your son to try and get me to forgive you?"

I looked down. "I just wanted you to forgive me."

"What exactly do you want me to forgive you for?" she hissed.

"The way that I have been treating you. After I told you that I had feelings for you I felt like I was breaking some kind of rule about employee fraternization." She raised her eyebrow at me and looked like she was about to punch me. I raised my hands. "Not that you are an employee, we were just talking about paychecks and I thought, if I'm paying you then it would be kind of awkward for us to have some kind of relationship."

"So, you thought breakfast in bed was going to make up for treating me like I'm some kind of maid that doesn't speak English and only understands commands."

"I was hoping it was a start?" I said more in a question hoping that should wouldn't hit me.

"Your right, it was a start, but your going to have to do a lot more. Especially if you want me to go to that dinner thing next week. I refuse to be treated like just an employee, treat me like a person. And by the way, that breakfast was amazing. I wish I could have something like that every morning." She said and left.


	16. Chapter 16

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 16_

_EPOV_

Every chance that I got, I apologized to Bella, in reply she would smirk and say "Gotta try harder." I was running out of ideas to make Bella seem like part of the family. I didn't give her any chores to do for the week and let her have free reign over everything.

On Tuesday after I came home from work I went to the kitchen to start on dinner. Instead, I found Bella standing over a pot. "What are you making?" I asked.

"Enchiladas. This is just the beans," She said and turned around. She rested her hands on the counter behind her. My eyes immediately fell to the very, very low dark green v-neck sleeveless shirt she had on.

"It smells amazing." I said finally pulling my eyes away from her chest and she had a knowing smirk on her face. "You look very nice today."

"Why thank you, I had to go to my publishers office this afternoon." She said.

What was she doing there? "What were doing over there?"

She shrugged and turned back to stir the beans. "Just going over a timeline. How long I'm going to be here, and if I'm going to start on my next book. Those types of things. The whole situation is very unorthodox." She said.

"It is," I conceded. "But it doesn't have to be, does it?"

"Okay Edward," she said in a frustrated tone. "You need to make up your mind." She turned around and started walking towards me. "Either this can be a professional type thing and not acting on whatever feelings we may or may not have, where I am still not treated like an employee. I mean my actual boss treats me better. Or we can act on feelings." She was extremely close to me when she finished her tirade.

"I would feel a lot better acting on whatever feelings I may or may not have if I wasn't going to be paying you at the end of the week." I said.

She laughed. "Then don't pay me." I smiled and grabbed her waist pulling her the rest of the way to me and pressed my lips against hers.

"Eww. What are you guys doing?" a voice said.

We broke apart and we stared at my son with a disgusted look on his face.

"We weren't doing anything Scotty." I said at a loss for words.

It was like I could see the light bulb turn on above his head. "You guys were kissing! You just got Bella cooties Dad!" he turned and stomped back upstairs.

"How does he know what kissing is?" Bella asked.

"Those Disney movies that how." I said and ran my hand through my hair. She laughed and went back to dinner. "So does that mean I'm forgiven?" I asked hopefully.

"Kind of, I am still kind of pissed." She said.

"I can work with that." I said and grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat down at the table munching on the chips and salsa that were put out.

"How was your day?" Bella asked sitting down at the table with her own glass of wine.

"The usual. Nothing too exciting. But I do have something to tell you about tomorrow." She nodded for me to continue. "My best friend Jasper's girlfriend Alice is going to pick Vanessa up. Originally the plan was to pick her up after school but Alice called and told me she was going to pick her up during her first period."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know. But is Alice on the emergency contacts list, because they wont release Vanessa unless she is."

I shook my head. "Alice isn't, but my brothers wife Rosalie is."

"Are all these people going to be at the dinner tomorrow night?" she asked bewildered. My family was kind of huge.

"Yep,"

"And what are Alice and Rosalie going to be doing with Vanessa tomorrow?"

"All I know is shopping, but that could change I guess." I told her shoving a chip in my mouth.

She nodded and opened the oven checking on the enchiladas and the smell was like a wonderful slap in the face. I have never smelt better enchiladas in my life, even at a Mexican restaurant. She pulled them out and set them on the counter. "I'm going to go get Scotty."

I got up and walked up the stairs and opened the door to Scotty's room where he was sitting on his bed playing with his toys. "Dinner's done."

"Do you have cooties?" he asked me putting his racecars down.

I laughed and shook my head. "Nope, cootie clear."

Scotty smiled and rolled off his bed. I left and walked over to Nessie's room and knocked once and opened the door.

"Hey Vanessa."

"Hi?" she said looking up from her textbook. "Is there something you need?"

I shook my head. "Just wanted to let you know that dinner is done. Enchiladas, your favorite."

"I'll be down in a minute," she said unsurely.

"Okay," I left with a feeling of achievement. We finally had a conversation that didn't involve yelling.

Dinner was quiet and Vanessa joined us a while into dinner and actually complimented Bella on her cooking. When dinner was finished Bella and I did the dishes together. There were quite a few bubbles to clean up when we were done. I walked her up the stairs and we stood outside her door. It was like I was on a date in high school all over again. "So is tomorrow going to be fancy or casual?" she asked.

"Somewhere in the middle I think." I told her with a smile.

"I'll see what I can pull together." She said with a brilliant smile.

"I'm sure whatever it is, you will look beautiful like you always do."

"Aww." She said and pulled me down for a kiss. This kiss was deeper. She slid her tongue across my lip and I parted them for her. It wasn't rough, it was nice and slow. One of those perfect movie moments.

I pulled away. "Goodnight." I told her.

"Goodnight." I kissed her on the nose and turned around and walked down the hall.

VPOV

My buzzer went off and I groaned fighting the urge to throw it against the wall. I sat up and ran a hand through my hair, something that I picked up from my father.

I slipped into the shower, quickly washing my hair but taking it slow when shaving my legs. I got out and toweled off my body before putting my hair into the towel and wrapping my fuzzy light purple robe around me. I put my makeup on before walking over to my closet and picking out my outfit for the day. I pulled a see-through flowery peasant top that fell off the shoulder matched with a pair of white shorts with my black and white converse.

I set the clothes on my bed and went back to my bathroom where I blow-dried my hair to a point where it was straight with a hint of wave. After that I put my clothes on and walked down the stairs and got out my yogurt and granola bar with my glass of juice. No one was in the kitchen with me and I reveled in the quiet. Until of course my brother came in.

"Hi Nessie!" Scotty was the one person I allowed to call me that stupid nickname. "Guess what?"

"What?" I asked him stirring the granola into the yogurt.

"Dad has Bella cooties!"

"What?"

"I found Daddy and Bella kissing last night!" he said proudly, like he won some kind of prize for walking in on my dad sucking face with his _gigolo._

"Gross." I said and wasn't sure that I wanted to continue eating with the mental image of my dad with some other woman other than my mom. Not that the bitch has been around for years.

The skank came down the stairs and handed me my lunch money in silence like had been the way things had been for the past few days and then started on Scotty's lunch.

I sat around watching everyone get ready for the day until it was time for us to get into the car and leave.

When we pulled up the school I scanned the parking lot for Jacobs car. I smiled when I saw it and got out of the car without a word to or from my father. I was very happy with the way things were lately. No one was talking to me or getting pissed when I walked into the house high or hung over. Life was pretty perfect.

I found Jacob in the hall and when he saw me his face lit up in a big smile. I saw the looks of all the girls in the hall when I walked up to him and pulled him in for a kiss, the taste of toothpaste still fresh. That's right bitches, Jacob Black was all mine.

"Hey babe," he greeted me huskily.

"Hi," I giggled. I moved to his side wrapping an arm around his waist and one of his hands ended up in the back pocket of my shorts.

We talked with our friends for a while before the bell rang trying to make plans for today after school. Jacob was a year ahead of me so when the bell rang I was off to geometry and he was going down the opposite hall to APUSH (AP U.S. History). We might be big party people but we did have to keep our grades up and we weren't dumb. We were pretty damn smart.

That's why the teachers had mixed feelings about us. We had good grades but were notorious for drugs and alcohol. Oh well.

I felt like I was going to fall asleep when our teacher wouldn't shut up about finals coming up in a month. We just finished state testing and here he was droning on and on about more fucking tests. A TA from the office walked into the room and handed a slip to the teacher and I prayed that it was for me. I would give anything to get out of this class.

"Vanessa," I thought about saying a prayer, but not being religious… "You are leaving for the day." Now I was confused. I didn't know I had anything going on today.

I grabbed my backpack and grabbed the slip from the teacher and walked down the halls to the office where I found my very pregnant aunt Rosalie standing there in a spaghetti strap hippie dress. Her long blonde hair made her blue eyes stand out more. She hardly wore makeup since she got pregnant. But you could totally tell that she is going to be a MILF once her kid is born. Or does she count right now? But I bet that TA that's staring at her doesn't care that she's pregnant.

"Hey Auntie Rose." I said. "What's going on? Did something happen?"

She said bye to the TA and turned to me hooking her arm around mine and led me outside. "Nothing happened, but you, Alice and me are going shopping and whatever you want to do today."

"Did my dad put you up to this? Not that I'm against skipping school for shopping or anything, but why is this happening?" I asked skeptically.

"You have all of your fathers perceptiveness," she mumbled. "Yes he did, but we can talk about that later."

"None of the malls stores are open right now." I told her getting in the car and Alice was sitting in the front seat.

"Hey girly!" she said turning around in the seat to see me. Alice was dressed to the tens like she always was whenever I saw her. I was always fascinated by my Uncle Jasper's interest in women. He was such a chill guy but he always goes for the upbeat loud and outgoing women. Alice was short, about the same height as me and I was pretty damn short. She sported the longer version of a pixie cut that she always had styled to perfection and dark blue eyes stood out with the black hair and black eyeliner.

"Hey Alice, what's up chica?" I asked smiling. I loved hanging out with my aunts. I could talk to them about anything and know every secret was safe with them. Unlike my dad. Things were just different with them.

She shrugged. "So here is the itinerary for the day. We are going to the salon for hair and mani-pedi's, then we are going to a light lunch, next we go to the mall and lastly we see a movie. Sound good?"

"That sounds awesome, I'm still wondering why this is happening though."

"We'll talk at the salon." Rosalie said and started the car.

We pulled up to a chic salon and went in. Alice talked to the front desk and we were each set up with stylists that were next to each other. The crappy thing about having black hair was that you couldn't put highlights in it or anything without looking like you were trying way too hard. I liked my long hair so I got a nice trim and fixed my layers and added more and getting my bangs all done up. Alice got the same thing as a haircut and me while Auntie Rose got her highlights redone.

Alice and I sat down in chairs next to each other for pedicures. "I hate to sound like a total grown up right now, but your dad wanted me to talk to you."

"Why?" I groaned.

"He wants to figure out why you have been having the attitude from hell lately." She said sounding strangely authoratative.

I sighed. "I'm a teenager, aren't I supposed to be moody?" I asked.

"From what your dad has been telling me, coming home with a hangover and then passing out for the rest of the day and then giving everyone in the house except for your brother attitude isn't normal teenager behavior."

"I am a teenager. It's normal for me to experiment with drugs and alcohol. Its not like I'm addicted to anything." I said. "It seems like he doesn't understand that and he doesn't choose to understand that. And when he hired that hooker… ugh I lost it. I don't want to be home around her. It's like she non verbally or physically kicked me out." I said, everything just spilling out.

Alice took a deep breath. "He understands that your experimenting, but he knows that something bad could happen with that too. He is just looking out for your best interests. And Bella seems nice. She isn't a hooker, she is more like a nanny."

"A nanny that my little brother catches shoving her tongue down my dad's throat? Yeah I don't think so. Scotty shouldn't be getting so attached to her; a nanny is just a temporary position. At some point she is going to leave and Scotty will be devastated. I'm just trying to protect him from the inevitable. It's my job as his older sister. He shouldn't have to go through what happened with mom. He was a baby when she left so he doesn't remember, but I wasn't. I do remember. And he should never have to feel that, he is too sweet." I said.

"So you think that Edward is trying to replace Victoria," I felt tears spring up when she said her name. "But you think that she is going leave like your mom did and you don't want to have to go through that same situation again and you are trying to prevent Scotty from going through that." She said summing everything up and I nodded. "Sweetie, everyone loses people at some point in their lives. You lose friends, you lose family members. You can't stop life from happening for him. What if his grandparents were to die or something like that? You wouldn't be able to stop him from feeling that loss."

"I know that there are some things that I cant help protect my brother from, but this I can. Or at least I can try. Still, I don't like her." I said. "So yeah, you can tell my dad that. Saves me a lot of time."

I said and watched the person doing my toes.

"Maybe you should tell him," Alice said softly.

I shook my head. "No, I don't want to talk to him, especially about that. It would just be a waste of time. Talking never changes anything. It might fix things for a while when the discussion is still fresh in their minds, but its not permanent. Things always go back to the way that they were before the talking was done."


	17. Chapter 17

_**She's All That**  
_

* * *

_Chapter 17_

_BPOV_

It may have taken me a few tries, but eventually, got the stereo in Edward's house to work. I plugged in my little nano, scrolled to the bottom of my playlist finding my latest favorite song. I turned it up loud enough to be heard around the house and got to work on the cleaning that needed to be done.

When I finally finished cleaning, I looked around with a satisfied smile, now all I had to do was find something to wear to the dinner party tonight. I couldn't imagine that it would be too fancy but it certainly was not going to be your casual dinner at the parents' house. It was almost one, and the party was starting at five thirty, which probably meant a half hour or so of socializing and then dinner for an hour, then comes dessert. Almost three hours. Some comfortable shoes would be advisable. This shouldn't be all that difficult!

I left the clothes alone for now and got into the shower, trying to relax myself a little. I scrubbed myself like I had been camping for a week with no real shower and rinsed and repeated twice with my favorite shampoo and conditioner that smelled like strawberries and freesia. It was extremely expensive, the kind you can only get online, so it was used only for special occasions. I got out and wrapped a warm fuzzy towel around me, before putting on my robe.

I blew my hair dry and put it up in a bun, to be worked with later, and then pulled out all my manicure supplies. A French tip for my fingers and a sandy color for my toes. I walked around the house on my heals and held my hands firmly out in front of me. I was still in my robe and it was almost time for Scotty's school to get out. I stared at my nails, wondering how in the hell I was going to be able to get dressed without ruining anything. The impossible task.

I deftly changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top and dumped everything out of my purse to find my keys then left hoping that I wouldn't be too late. I drove a little over the speed limit, something I hardly ever did with my father being a cop and all, to the elementary school. I pulled up to the curb and rolled down the window yelling "Scotty" out the window. He was standing around looking a little lost before he heard me and started running towards the car. I unlocked the doors and he climbed in. "How was school?"

"School is so stupid!" Scotty complained.

I looked at him in the rearview mirror. He had his arms crossed over his chest, pouting. "Aw, school isn't that bad."

He shook his head adamantly. "Yeah it is. Miss Murphy showed us subtracting big numbers. And I don't get it."

"How about this, when we get home I'll go over it with you. It isn't that hard."

"Can I have a snack?" his face lit up with the prospect of food. I could tell what he would be like as a teenage boy already.

"We'll see. We are going over to your grandparents house for dinner tonight and I don't think your grandma Esme would be all that happy if you spoiled your appetite now would she?"

"Please? I'm hungry!" he whined.

I shook my head. "If you have a snack now then you won't get dessert later, you know this right?" I said bating him.

I could see his hopes fall in front of me and I kind of wanted to laugh. It was amazing knowing that I had this kind of power. Now I could see why Edward tried to use Scotty to apologize.

I had won this battle and when we got home he immediately went to the kitchen table and pulled out a worksheet of some of the easiest math problems I had seen in years. It took a while but I finally was able to explain that when you are carrying over a one that the number you are taking it from becomes one smaller. By the time we were finished with everything Edward had come home and was sitting across the table watching us.

"Well don't your toes look nice," Edward said when I reached for a glass.

I waved my fingers in front of him. "My nails too," he laughed and nodded.

"You don't have to dress too fancy, it's not like we are going to a royal ball or anything." He said assuring.

"Why couldn't you have told me that earlier? I was stressed this morning for no reason it seems. I know exactly what to wear now." I said and hugged him before running upstairs, careful of my toes of course. They might be dry, but they can still get all scuffed.

I grabbed a hanger from my closet and stared at the dress with a smile of satisfaction. I hadn't had a chance to wear this dress yet, but I was sure glad I bought it. I set it carefully on my bed and stepped into the bathroom and pulled out my curling iron. While it was warming up I did my makeup. Nothing too fancy, the natural look. It took me nearly an hour to do my hair so it was almost five. Edward knocked on my door saying that we needed to leave soon. I pulled my hair up into a high curled pony tail and did a mini "Snookie" poof on my bangs. I peeled off my sweats and tank and slid on the dress. The white fabric glided over my body like it had in the store and I smiled at myself in the mirror. The dress had a tulip skirt so my peep toed heals matched nicely. They were easy to slip on and off if I needed to, so that was a bonus. The rhinestones at the top made jewelry unnecessary.

I grabbed my purse and walked out and met Edward and Scotty standing at the bottom of the stairs both looking dashing in dress shirts and black pants. Edward was wearing a dark green and Scotty was in blue.

"You look fantastic." Edward said and grabbed for my hand.

I blushed. "Thanks, I don't look too over the top do I?" I asked self consciously.

Edward shook his head. "You look perfect."

"Well you don't look to bad yourself." I said nudging him with my hip.

We all piled into Edward's Volvo and set off down the road. When we pulled up to his parents house I couldn't help but be amazed once again by how amazing their house was. Yes Edward's was beautiful, but this was the next level up. There were more cars parked in the drive way than there were the last time we were here so I guessed that we were the last to arrive.

Edward held my hand again as we walked up the steps and Scotty grabbed my hand when we knocked on the door before entering. We stood in the awning for a moment a short woman with short black hair walked by where we were standing. She stopped in her tracks and turned around and smiled at us. She was wearing a fancy green dress that looked brand new and belonged at a business dinner rather than a family get-together.

"Now I feel underdressed." I whispered to Edward.

"Alice is overdressed for every occasion, you get used to it." He whispered back and I nodded inconspicuously.

"Hi!" Alice said excited. "You must be Bella, I have heard so much about you! I'm Alice, Jasper's girlfriend." She said and instead of the usual handshake she pulled me into a hug. "Hey Edward," she said and hugged him to. She whispered something I couldn't hear into his ear and he nodded. Alice then turned to Scotty. "Hey buddy! How are you? You want some snacks? We have some cheese and crackers in the living room."

"Snacks!" Scotty said excitedly and grabbed Alice's hand and they ran together towards the living room.

"Well she seems very energetic." I said.

"You have no idea." Edward said and I guess there must be some strange memories.

"Is Jasper your brother?" I asked. I had no idea who anyone here was other than his parents.

Edward shook his head. "No, Jasper is my best friend. He has been since we were born I'm guessing, I can't remember a time when we weren't. Emmett is my brother. You will see where Scotty gets his behavior from soon. You know who Alice is now, and Rosalie is Emmett's wife. They are expecting their first. They don't know what it is. They decided to wait until the baby's born."

"Well that's sweet."

"Yeah," he said and guided me towards the living room with a hand on my lower back.

There was a beautiful woman sitting on the couch with her hands resting on her stomach while a huge beast of a man was sitting on the ground rubbing her feet. I guessed the man rubbing who must be Rosalie's feet was Emmett, Edward's brother. They looked hardly anything alike. Where Edward had more of a swimmers build Emmett was built like a linebacker. He had curly black hair like Vanessa with the same green eyes that seemed to run in the family. Carlisle had them too, but he had blonde hair.

Scotty definitely took after his uncle. As I thought that Emmett looked up and smiled widely. "Hey you must be Bella!" he said in a booming voice. It was a semi frightening and joyful sound.

"You must be Emmett," I replied.

He smiled even wider, his dimples showing now. "Ah, I see my little bro here has told you all about me."

I shook my head. "Nope, he hasn't said a word besides your name. That and your expecting." I said glancing over at Rosalie.

He grabbed at his heart. "Oh Eddie I'm hurt! You bring your girlfriend over and you don't tell her anything about me!"

"I think that if I were to tell her things about you she would laugh every time she saw you. Or throw up, whichever way she takes things." Edward said. "And how many times do I have to tell you, don't call me Eddie."

"I miss high school." Emmett said nostalgically.

Rosalie had turned around at that point and she mouthed a "sorry," to me. I smiled and shook my head and she smiled and turned back around. "My feet still hurt, Emmett." She told him and he snapped out of whatever daze he was in and returned to rubbing her feet.

A man with wavy blonde hair and dark brown eyes came up to me. "I'm Jasper, it's a pleasure to meet you." He said and reached for my hand.

I smiled. Finally a sane person, "I'm Bella, nice to meet you too."

After all the introductions things seemed to back as they were. Alice and Jasper were talking in a corner, Emmett was rubbing Rosalie's feet and Scotty was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table chowing down on some Munchies while watching television. Edward and I sat down on the couch with his arm thrown over my shoulder. Carlisle and Esme had come in and said hello before once again leaving to the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye I saw bright purple and when I turned I saw Vanessa standing there in a purple sun dress which I guess she got today because that wasn't what she was wearing this morning. Her jaw was clenched and she turned on her heal and left back to wherever she was before.

Edward rubbed my arm so I guess he saw the whole exchange.

I really think it was time for Vanessa and I to have a moment where we could just sit and talk. If I could ever find a moment when she is home long enough to do so. Another impossible task.


	18. Chapter 18

_**She's All that**_

* * *

_Chapter 18_

_BPOV_

I gave Edward a half smile while he rubbed my arm soothingly. The sound of heals clacking on the hard wood floors caught my attention and turned around. Edward's mother was standing there with a polite smile on her face. "Dinner is ready. Come and serve yourselves." She turned and clacked her way down the hall to the kitchen.

"Is your mom always that," I searched for the right word. I couldn't just call her anal now could I? "Polite?"

"Oh yeah, but that's only because she doesn't know you very well. Hang around here for a while and she'll be her usual self. She's pretty awesome." Emmett answered. I looked to Edward for conformation and he nodded.

"You should have seen her when she met me. She is so protective of her kids, she almost flipped a bitch when I was walking around her house in a pair of daisy dukes with my bikini." Rosalie laughed. "She thought I was Emmett's whore of the week."

"Rosie, language. The baby can hear you." Emmett said and rubbed her stomach.

"Whatever Emmett. Even if the baby can hear me its not like it's going to come out talking. You should think about you say late at night." She said raising an eyebrow. The tops of Emmett's ears turned pink and I smirked.

Edward stood and grabbed my hand pulling me up. We walked through the hall and I slowed us down looking at all the pictures. The first was a picture of a fat baby with bright green eyes and a tuft of black hair and the second was Edward, a normal sized baby with green eyes and copper hair sticking up all over the place. "You were such a cute baby! Your hair hasn't changed at all."

"Yeah," Edward said looking at his feet. "Hey, we should get seated before my mom starts to wonder what we are doing." He said trying to change the subject; his cheeks were pink.

"Edward Cullen, are you embarrassed?"

"I went through some awkward phases and they are all up on these walls." He shrugged. "It took a while to get this sexy, it didn't just happen overnight."

I raised my eyebrow. "You're going to have to show me at some point you know. Or I'll have to ask you mother, better yet, I'll ask Emmett."

"After dinner we can reminisce." He said grudgingly.

I smiled triumphantly and allowed him to guide me the rest of the way to the dining room. The walls were an off-white color with paintings covering almost all of the walls. Lit by a giant chandelier the room had a nice glow. In the center there was a table covered in fancy place settings. I looked to Edward wondering where to sit. He set his hand on the small of my back and pulled out a chair in the middle.

I sat down and Edward walked through a swinging door to my left. I stared down at the place settings; there were so many different utensils there. I picked up a tiny fork wondering what it was for. My mother always complained that I didn't know enough about etiquette; I just never thought I would be put into a situation where I would need to know.

Rosalie walked through the door, holding her hands on her back and sat down across from me. "I swear that woman can't get enough of babies. She wants to name our kid either Everett or Angelica." She sipped her water.

"Those are interesting names." I said dumbly.

"I have nothing against the names, but when you look at me and you look at Emmett, do you see our kids having names like that? I don't think so." She was a very strong-minded individual. "If it's a boy, Daniel, a girl, October."

"I really like October, it's such a pretty name." I sounded so lame. Not impressive at all.

Everyone came in then, each carrying a plate of something. When everyone sat down the dinner for tonight consisted of a spinach salad, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes and a huge roast. "Um, wow, this looks amazing."

"Its Rosalie's favorite." Esme said and gazed adoringly at Rose's stomach. Rosalie was too busy digging into the mashed potatoes that she didn't notice.

"So Bella, what do you normally do?" Esme asked as I stuck a mouthful of salad in my mouth. My face felt hot and I hurried to chew and swallow.

I cleared my throat. "I'm a writer." Esme nodded with a smile on her face, but not one that reached her eyes. It seems like it's going to be hard to please this woman.

Carlisle took his turn to speak. "Have you been published?" He seemed intrigued.

I nodded, "Nothing special. Just a few science fiction romance novels, I wrote the Twilight Instruments series."

There was a cough and looked around and found Alice reaching for her water glass. "You wrote those? Those books are amazing! They were on the New York Times bestseller list! Stop being modest! Best teen romance novels ever!"

I smiled wide with pride. "Thank you Alice."

Everyone looked shocked and Esme looked… proud? "That's amazing Bella. I imagine it must be hard to be a writer."

I nodded. "It can be. As long as you have a good story line and style that everyone else in the world likes it's easy. But there comes a point where you just reach a roadblock of sorts. That's how I met Edward."

"What happened?" Jasper asked, sipping his beer.

I really hated being the center of attention. "Well for a while now my publisher has been hounding me for another book in the series and I keep drawing a blank. So I decided that I needed a change of scenery. There isn't really anything that I'm qualified for so when I saw Edward's ad in the newspaper, I called."

"What was that ad about Eddie?" Emmett snickered.

Edward squared his shoulders and looked at everyone in the room. "It was a house keeping and nanny position ad. Not some kind of prostitution thing; like you all seem to think."

"Sure, Edward, whatever you say." Jasper mumbled with a smile on his face.

I cleared my throat. "This place is amazing Esme, are you an interior designer?" I asked pointing the spotlight on someone else.

"I dabble. But nothing too serious." She said with a shy smile.

The table seemed to fall into silence after that. Everyone got their information and was satisfied. Carlisle and Esme cleared the table after everyone finished and brought out desserts. Homemade cheesecake.

Edward cleared his throat after setting down his fork. "Well, mom that was a fantastic dinner as usual. Thank you, but I think we should be going."

"So soon?" Carlisle asked.

He nodded and looked at me. Edward knew I was extremely uncomfortable. "It's a school night and it's nearly eight thirty already. I need to work tomorrow and these two," he gestured towards his kids, "need to get some sleep."

"Well alright. But I hope you all come over again soon." Carlisle said.

Everyone got up and walked us to the door. I stood there awkwardly while everyone gave Edward a hug goodbye. Esme pulled me into a hug, shocking the hell out of me. "I hope I didn't scare you off, and hope to see you again soon. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Of- of course Esme. A pleasure to meet you as well." I stuttered.

She smiled. "I'm going to run to the bookstore tomorrow and get those books Alice was talking about." She winked at me.

"I hope you enjoy them," I said lamely.

She smiled and Carlisle walked over to me. He held out his hand and I grabbed it. He covered my hand in his. "It was so great to see Edward with someone after all of these years. I know we may have come off a bit stand-offish, but trust me when I say we aren't usually like that."

"So I've been told." I said.

He smiled, "Well I hope you stick around long enough to see that they were right."

Carlisle and Esme left the room and everyone else seemed to relax. Alice jumped in front of me. "You and I are going to go shopping sometime soon, got it?" she said demandingly and I nodded with wide eyes. She hugged me and waltzed out the front door dragging jasper behind her who waved and shut the door behind him.

There was a loud slap and I saw Edward flinch and Emmett's hand rise from Edward's back. "I like you Bella." He said to me with a dimpled smile. "Edward, don't do anything to fuck this one up."

"What happened to no swearing honey?" Rosalie asked and pointed at her stomach.

"Shit." Emmett mumbled. "I mean… aw crap screw it." He said and hugged his brother.

"Don't worry Emmett," Edward said. "I plan on keeping her around for a while." His arm snaked around my waist and I raised an eyebrow at him, but Edward was too busy smiling at his brother to notice me. Instead I caught Rose's attention and she smirked mouthing "good luck." to me.

After that everyone left and I sighed letting my hair down once we got into the car. Vanessa had her headphones in and was staring at her phone. Scotty was already asleep. "Well, what do you think?" Edward asked. "You ready to skip town yet?"

I shook my head. "I doubt there is anything that you could spring on me that would make me leave. I have faced it all."

"What if I told you that Carlisle was the boss of a major drug cartel and Emmett was next in line to take on the Cullen throne and he was sending me to Italy next week to secure a marriage between some kid named Paolo and Vanessa?" Edward asked.

I laughed. "Even then I think I would stay, just because that sounds so cool. So your dads a mob boss?"

Edward snorted. "I wish. Life would have been much more exciting growing up. But he's actually a surgeon. The only exciting thing he's done is a heart transplant. That I know of."

"My dad's a cop of a small town in Washington. And my mom is a kindergarten teacher in Phoenix. I think your dad is way cooler."

"I hope you didn't get too freaked out when I said I plan on you sticking around." Edward said sheepishly.

I looked down at my hands. "Well a yeah a little bit. We just you know, got together, and you sound like your ready for a huge commitment. And I'm not. Yet. I'm not saying I won't be, but you know." I rambled.

"Yeah I know,"

"Why don't we go to dinner tomorrow? Just you and I, no talk about my job or anything. Just us." I suggested taking his hand.

He gave me a crooked smile, "I think that can be arranged."


	19. Chapter 19

_**She's All That**_

* * *

_Chapter 19_

_VPOV_

When we got in the car, I put my headphones in, but kept the music off. I wanted to hear what they were talking about with those lust-y looks on their smiling faces. I stared at my phone, pretending to not be paying any attention to them and my dad started talking.

"Well, what do you think? Ready to skip town yet?" my dad asked.

The hooker shook her head, "I doubt there is anything that you could spring on me that would make me leave. I have faced it all."

"What if I told you that Carlisle was the boss of a major drug cartel and Emmett was next in line to take on the Cullen throne and he was sending me to Italy next week to secure a marriage between some kid named Paolo and Vanessa?"

I wish.

She laughed that girly little giggle that she does and my father looked at her adoringly. Disgusting. "Even then I think I would stay, just because that sounds so cool. So your dads a mob boss?"

My dad snorted, jesus was he part pig? "I wish. Life would have been much more exciting growing up. But he's actually a surgeon. The only exciting thing he's done is a heart transplant. That I know of."

"My dad's a cop of a small town in Washington. And my mom is a kindergarten teacher in Phoenix. I think your dad is way cooler."

"I hope you didn't get too freaked out when I said I plan on you sticking around." My dad said. One of the worst moments of my life, he cant honestly expect to get married or something?

"Well a yeah a little bit. We just you know, got together, and you sound like your ready for a huge commitment. And I'm not. Yet. I'm not saying I won't be, but you know."

"Yeah I know,"

"Why don't we go to dinner tomorrow? Just you and I no talk about my job or anything. Just us." She said and reached for his hand. Gag me.

"I think that can be arranged." Can I barf, please? I'm asking nicely.

The rest of the ride home I stared at them with my music turned up loud. It was like a train wreck, you just couldn't help watching things sometimes.

When we got home I pointedly ignored them both and stalked off to my room. I flung myself onto my bed and pulled my phone out of my bra. What? There wasn't anywhere else to put it. Don't act like you don't do it on occasion too. There were multiple unanswered texts from Jake, even some from Jane and Alec. They were wondering where the fuck I went today. I didn't say goodbye to them or anything, and I was too busy shopping to pay attention to my phone.

I sent them each a quick reply and stripped my dress in exchange for one of Jacob's t-shirts that I stole and curled up under the covers.

The next morning I got through my usual routine and skipped breakfast, too full from the night before. Finally I went down stairs and stood at the kitchen counter waiting for someone to take me to school. Bella stood at the other side of the counter with her coffee cup in her hand, looking like she really wanted to say something. I raised my eyebrow at her and spun on my heal and went out to the car, waiting for my dad to drive me to school.

Through the window I could see my dad lean down and kiss Bella like I remember him kissing my mom. I might have been little when she left but I do still remember some things.

The drive to school was silent as usual, the only sound coming from the people on the radio. I didn't argue with my dad about where to drop me off this morning and got out of the car in front of the school.

I burst through the front double doors and looked down the halls searching for Jacob and found him leaning against his locker. Our eyes locked on each other and I walked quickly down the hall and threw my arms around him and he kissed me fully on the lips. "Hey, you okay?" he asked pulling my chin up to look at him.

I nodded. "Yeah, I just have a lot going on right now."

He didn't seem to believe me, "You know I got you babe," he said and slid his hand to rest in the back pocket of my shorts. The bell rang soon after that and we all went our separate ways to our classes. It wasn't until lunch that we were all together again.

"So what happened to you yesterday?" Jane asked with the straw from her soda in her mouth.

Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to answer. We were like the Goonies, all of us together knowing everything. "My aunts pulled me out in first period and we went shopping and got our nails and hair done. There was a huge family dinner last night and they wanted to talk to me about some stuff."

Alec flipped his hair. "What kind of stuff?"

I shrugged. "They just wanted to know how I felt about the whore that my dad hired."

Felix looked intrigued. "Whore? What's she look like?" Felix was built like my uncle Emmett, except Felix had sandy hair and blue eyes. He was also fucking Jane.

"Short, brown hair brown eyes. She looks like a munchkin."

"Hun," Heidi, the blonde bombshell with a modeling contract already, said breaking away from her boyfriend Demetri, the Russian hottie that moved here two years ago with his family. "Your 5'3. You don't get to call anyone a munchkin."

"Just because everyone here is freakishly tall," I grumbled. I looked at Jacob, "Do you want to come over tonight? My dad is taking Bella out and my brother goes to bed at seven." I said suggestively.

Jacob smiled his patented sexy half smile and kissed me once as his answer.

"Use protection," Jane smirked.

I smiled sweetly. "I could say the same to you babes." She laughed and took a bite of her celery stick.

After school let out I stood outside the school like a good little girl and waited for Bella. She drove by once but then she hit the brakes and turned back around. I rolled my eyes when I got in the car. "Hi Vanessa," Bella said nervously.

I gave her a single wave and plugged in my headphones, turning my music all the way. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Scotty talking animatedly to who I assumed was Bella.

When we got home someone tapped me on the shoulder and Bella was standing there with a sad smile on her face. I pulled out one of my headphones. "What?" I asked.

"Do you think we could, you know, talk?" she asked fiddling with her keys.

I shook my head. "Nope, not in the mood. I have homework that I need to do."

She sighed. "Fine, but if you wouldn't mind staying home tonight. Your father and I are going out to dinner and Scotty is in need of a babysitter. Which would be you." She said quickly and brushed past me.

I raised my eyebrow at her as she walked by. Bitch has some balls that's for damn sure.

I worked on my homework all afternoon, spending as much time as I could on my English paper. By the time I was finished it was nearly seven and my paper could pass for one a college student worked on. Lord of the Flies was an extremely boring book.

"Vanessa!" my dad called from downstairs. I sighed and rolled off my bed and went to the railing outside my room.

"What?" I called back.

My dad was dressed up in a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark jeans and Bella was wearing a pair of black skinnies and a red ruffled shirt that was held up by a red ribbon around her neck, her hair curled and pinned up on one side. "We are leaving," he said. "We'll be back later, there's leftovers in the fridge for you and Scotty."

"Bye," I said and rushed back to my room, flinging myself onto my bed so I could reach my phone on the bedside table.

I sent a quick text to Jake telling him that they were gone and a few minutes later he said he would be here in twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. That's how long I had to make myself look fuck-tastic?

I tore off my comfy clothes and rushed to my closet in my underwear. I stood there at my closet trying to decide on something to wear. I pulled out a new coral open shoulder blouse I got yesterday. The sleeves were cut out with suede lacing at the bottom of the sleeves. It matched perfectly with my hair and skin tone. I put it on and unclasped my bra, the shirt was a halter, backless with a drop neck, nothing I can do. I pulled on a pair of pair of faded denim shorts and scurried over to the bathroom and quickly applied my makeup. When I was putting the finishing touches on my hair the doorbell rang and I ran out of my room. Scotty was coming down the stairs to answer it but I pulled him to the side.

"Go to your room squirt and don't come out until I come and get you." I said.

"Why are you so dressed up?" he asked.

I pursed my lips. "I was playing dress up. I'll be right back to put in a movie for you. And I'll even bring you popcorn, just don't come out till I come and get you." I pleaded with him.

He crossed his arms indignantly and I raised an eyebrow daring him to try something with me. "Fine." He said and stalked back to his room. I let out a breath of relief and hurried down the stairs. I composed myself at the door before opening it. Jake stood there with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey baby," he said and pulled me into his arms kicking the door shut behind him. "God, you look so sexy," he murmured into my neck, nipping at it and running his hands underneath my shirt, brushing the sides of my breasts. "No bra?" he asked and I could hear the smirk in his voice.

I pulled away. "You can't wear a bra with this shirt," I said. "Make yourself at home for a minute. I have to make popcorn and put in a movie for my brother."

He nodded and walked around following me to the kitchen. Jake had never been over to my house before. My dad would have killed me if he knew that I had a boyfriend. "Your house is huge," he commented.

I laughed. "I know; you haven't even seen the whole thing yet." Jake wrapped his arms around my waist as I leaned on the counter waiting for the popcorn to finish in the microwave. "The TV is in there," I said pointed to the living room, "if you want to watch baseball or something."

"I'd rather watch you," he said pulling my hair away from my neck and kissing it, causing shivers to run down my spine.

"Have you eaten anything?" I asked turning around.

He shook his head. "Are you cooking dinner?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I could, if you like grilled cheese, quesadillas, canned soup or leftovers." I said kissing his cheek. I sneaked away from him opening up the pantry and the fridge.

He smiled. "What kind of leftovers do you have?" I had to bend over to get a better look and I knew exactly what he was looking at. That boy had a one track mind but I knew he was always there for me. He does have an emotional side, he just doesn't let it come out. Jacob's mom died when he was a little kid in a car crash that left his dad paralyzed from the waist down. He spends most of his time taking care of his dad and working at the local garage fixing up cars. When he's not he is partying with the rest of us, trying to forget about the hardships at home. His dad spends most of his time with his brothers family the Clearwaters. Unfortunately earlier this year his Billy's, Jake's dad, brother Harry died from a heart attack. Seth, one of my good friends and Harry's son seems to be doing okay, but Leah, Seth's older sister has been taking it a lot harder. Not that she wasn't a royal bitch before, but it's gotten a lot worse. Now I try to look past it but sometimes when someone is that blatantly bitchy to you it can be hard.

"Um… Macaroni and cheese, lasagna and this pasta with chicken covered in pesto sauce. It's really good." I said pulling it out.

"Chicken pesto it is then." He said flashing his panty-dropping smile. It was amazing to me how perfect and white his teeth were.

I poured the popcorn into a bowl then thought about what Scotty would be having for dinner. Popcorn wasn't enough. I pulled out a can of tomato soup and put it on the stove, putting it up to full heat.

Once I was done putting Jake's and my dinner together I poured the soup into a bowl and grabbed the goldfish out of the pantry. "Be right back." I said to Jake and walked up the stairs, careful not to spill any soup anywhere.

"Where's my popcorn?" Scotty whined when I set the soup in front of him.

"You'll get your popcorn after dinner, same with the movie. I made you your favorite, no complaining." I said and left the room.

Jake sat waiting patiently at the kitchen table for me to return. He hadn't touched his food. "You could have eaten you know," I said and sat in the seat across from him.

"I was being polite." He said and dug in.

When we finished dinner. Jake and I did the dishes, him washing and me drying. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time. I felt so domestic, but I loved the feeling with Jacob.

I ran to check up on Scotty and he had the bowl up to his lips finishing off the soup. I grabbed the bag of goldfish, now almost empty and the bowl from his hands and placed the bowl of popcorn in front of him and put in the newest Harry Potter movie. Hopefully that would knock him out soon.

I sat on the counter watching as Jacob washed Scotty's bowl and he turned around. "What are you staring at?"

"You. Do you know how much I love you Jacob Black?" I asked pulling him towards me. Jake was now standing in between my legs with his hands on either side of my waist.

"Probably not as much as I love you." He said and kissed my shoulder, then he moved to my collarbone, next to my throat, to my cheek. My pulse was racing and there was a warm tingling sensation throughout my body. My breath was short and shallow and the next place Jacobs lips traveled to was my own. His hands rested on my legs, rubbing circles on my inner thighs.

My hands flew to his hair, pulling him to me. He groaned and his arms locked around me and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Jacob picked me up off the counter and started walking towards the stairs. "Which room?" he asked huskily.

"To the right, last door at the end of the hallway." I mumbled, my lips never leaving his neck. He opened the door and I slid off him and shut the door behind me. His black hair was in a disarray all over his head and I'm sure mine did too, but I just couldn't get over how sexy he was right then. I stalked towards him and pushed him down on the bed. I straddled his hips and tugged on the hem of his shirt. He seemed to get what I was asking and he tore off his black t-shirt, tossing it aside.

He growled, yes growled, flipped us around somehow so that I was on my back and he was on top of me, my head resting against the pillows. He pushed up my shirt, not completely taking it off, and ran his rough, yet soft, hands down the sides of my body, the muscles contracting and I shivered causing my nipples to harden and he smirked. He came to my shorts and unbuttoned them and pulled them off. I chanced a glance at the clock and saw that it was almost nine. Its been two hours already? I had no idea when my parents would be back. That thought left my mind when Jake nipped at the sensitive flesh of my inner thighs. I sat up and tugged on the belt loops of Jacobs jeans, telling him to take them off.

He did so quickly and pushed me back down, lifting my shirt up past my breasts and he took one into his mouth, fondling the other with his hands. I moaned, loudly very loudly and hoped that Scotty couldn't hear me.

Jacob's free hand traveled down my body, tickling me and gently stroked me over my underwear. I moaned even louder than I had the last time, were that even possible and my hips moved of their own accord and ground against him. I pulled his mouth up to mine once more and I could feel his arousal against my own. He rolled his hips against mine with a groan and I breathed out his name.

I heard footsteps and tried to say something, but Jake kept grinding his hips on mine and I couldn't say anything coherent.

Next there was a knock on the door and both of us snapped up and I quickly pulled my shirt down and while we were searching for our clothes the door opened and instead of seeing Scotty, my dad and Bella stood there. Bella looked shocked while my dad looked like steam should be coming out of his ears and an axe in his hands.

"Who the fuck are you?" my dad asked his fists clenched at his sides.

I looked at Jacob with wide eyes. He still had nothing on besides his green boxers. And I was still in my shirt, no pants. At least I had underwear on. "I'm Jacob Black. Your daughters boyfriend. You have a very nice house." He said with as much confidence as a nerd when talking to a girl.

"Get out." He said his eyes dark. Jacob gave a quick salute and grabbed his clothes and walked out the door. "Bella, if you wouldn't mind leaving us for a moment." My dad said, eerily calm.

"Sure," she said quietly and I saw her walk down the stairs a few steps behind Jake.

It was just my dad and me.

"What the hell were you thinking? With your brother in the house?"

I couldn't think of anything to say and was silent.

"What kind of boarding school do you think you would do well at? I think somewhere out of the country would be good. Maybe Korea, or somewhere where they wont tolerate the kind of shit that you keep puling. Money is no problem."

The familiar tightening of my throat and then the little tingle in my nose alerted me that the tears were flowing. I reached to my face to wipe them away but they just kept coming. "Daddy," I said quietly.

He shook his head and looked down. "I don't even want to hear it Vanessa. You treat me like I'm nothing, you treat Bella even worse and all she wants to do is try and talk to you. She doesn't know what she did to make you hate her so much. Hell, I don't even know what she did. I don't know what I did to make you hate me. And I know this isn't the usual teenage angst bullshit. Its not just your hormones running wild, because I have never known another teenager to act the way that you are. I have given everything for you and you just take it all for granted and I am so done. I thought that by ignoring you the way that you ignore me would change things, but its just making things worse." I said and dropped his head to his hands . "I don't know what to do with you anymore. You just go and do whatever the fuck you want anyway."

The sobs were wracking through my body now and I fell to the floor my legs not able to hold me up anymore. My father got up and left the room as I sat there crying. "I'm sorry…" I whispered over and over again wishing that he would hear me.


	20. Chapter 20

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 20_

_BPOV_

After dinner I was completely blissed out. It had to be one of the best nights of my life. All I could do was stare into the deep green pools of Edward's eyes while he did all the talking. About what, I'm not exactly sure, but I made a decision and that was that Edward had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. And very soft kissable lips. Oh how I love sitting at a booth.

When we pulled up to the house however, the mood inside the car completely shifted to confusion. Whose car was in the driveway?

When we walked in the doors Edward was on a mission. The first floor was completely empty and we ran up the stairs to see if Scotty and Vanessa were all right. Scotty was sleeping softly in his bed, an empty bowl on the floor and movie credits rolling on the television. When we reached Vanessa's room the first thing we heard were moans and sighs causing Edward to stop in his tracks and me as well. Edward threw the door open with as much force as he could, probably leaving a hole in the wall.

I was shocked at the image before me. Vanessa stood there frozen. Her hair and makeup was a mess and all she was wearing was a very provocative blouse and her panties. Next to her was a very tall man-boy. Dressed only in a pair of green boxers I could easily tell why Vanessa was attracted to him. With russet colored skin, a perfectly muscled body and a heavenly face, what teenage girl wouldn't want him?

"Who the fuck are you?" I think I could easily say that's the first time I have ever heard Edward swear before.

"I'm Jacob Black," the boy answered. "Your daughters boyfriend. You have a very nice house."

"Get out." Jacob gave a salute and I fought the urge to sigh. With the way Edward was acting I'm sure if he kept pulling crap like that he was going to get his ass handed to him on a silver platter. "Bella if you wouldn't mind leaving us for a moment?" Edward asked calmly.

I couldn't deny it I was truly scared of Edward. I really hope he wasn't going to do anything that he might regret later. "Sure," I said and followed Jacob down the stairs. I went into the kitchen and had a glass of water and Jacob walked in and reached his arm around me grabbing the foreign pair of keys from the counter.

"You must be Bella," he said. I nodded. "You are much more beautiful than Vanessa could have ever described." He whispered huskily into my ear.

I suppressed the shiver that threatened to roll down my spine. I may have feelings for Edward, but hot guys still turned me on. Like Ryan Reynolds for example, if he ever said something like that to me I would probably melt in front of him.

I was attracted to Jacob yes, but I was with Edward, he was with Vanessa and also very underage.

"I think you should leave." there was a slight shake to my voice and I wanted to slap myself for that. He laughed a little before he leaved, brushing his hand along my lower back.

I let out a long breath when I heard the rev of an engine outside and sunk against the counter. Footsteps descended the stairs and Edward stood in front of me. His hair was standing up in odd directions and he looked extremely tired. "Hey," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about that."

I shook my head. "There's nothing to be sorry for. Come on, let's get you up to bed." I grabbed his hand and walked him to his bedroom. He lay down in his clothes from dinner and stared at the ceiling. I pulled off his shoes and socks then unbuttoned his shirt pulling it off him before finally getting to his pants. I was unsure what to do but Edward was being unresponsive. I took a deep breath and quickly undid the belt, buttons and zipper sliding his slacks off. He lay there still staring at the ceiling now in his black boxers. It made me want to cry seeing him this way, so worn out and defeated.

I put his clothes away and moved to leave the room. "Bella," he strangled out. I turned around and looked at him. He had sat up with one arm extended towards me. "Please, sleep here tonight. Don't leave, you can wear my clothes, please just don't leave."

I wanted to joke about it being only our first date and he was already trying to get me in bed with him, but he looked so lost. He didn't know what to do about Vanessa and that was clear. I nodded and walked to his dresser pulling out a clean t-shirt and a pair of clean boxers. I went into the bathroom to change, hanging up my clothes. I didn't bother with my makeup and went to the bed. Edward had gotten under the covers and sat there waiting for me. I smiled sadly and got in on the opposite side. This bed was huge and so soft. I felt like I was on a cloud.

Edward shut off the lights and whispered, "Goodnight Bella," I found his hand and gave it a light squeeze before rolling over and settling in. An arm found itself on my waist and Edward pulled me tightly to him nuzzling his face into my hair with a sigh before his breathing became slow and even. It wasn't long before I succumbed as well.

I woke up the next morning hyperaware of where I was. The alarm was going off and I couldn't get to it. Edward and I had switched positions during the night. I was basically on top of him and he had one arm still around me pulling me tightly to him. It was almost as though Edward sensed that I was awake. "Good morning." He mumbled, his voice still thick with sleep, as he turned off the alarm.

"'Morning," I said.

"Thank you," Edward said quietly. "For being here last night. I don't know what I would have done without you here."

"That is a scary thought." I said and rolled out of his arms. "Come on, its time to get up. You have one more day of work before the weekend." He laughed and got up out of bed pulling me into a hug. "You my dear need to take a shower. You stink."

He let me go and went into the bathroom; I left his room and to my own bathroom to clean up. When I saw myself in the mirror I could scream. My hair, which had look amazing last night looked like a bird nest and my makeup, was smudged around my eyes. "Awesome." I mumbled. How could Edward possibly look at me while keeping a straight face?

Fifteen minutes scrubbing at my face and twenty minutes in the shower trying to comb the knots out of my hair later I was presentable once more. I walked into my room with my bathrobe on and Edward was sitting on my bed. "I did some thinking in the shower." He said. My clothes were hanging on my closet door.

"Oh yeah?"

"I want to meet Vanessa's friends. The last time I saw one of her friends was when she was in the fifth grade. So I think she should invite them over for dinner," he said.

I raised my eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, we met one of her very close friends last night and you looked ready to kill him."

"Well, they cant all be like that can they?"

"How much you want to bet that they probably are? You know how she acts and how she dresses. That reflects what kind of person she is, so obviously she is hanging out with people who are like that, and who knows they might even be worse." I hated sounding like a downer on everything, but Edward had looked awful last night. I didn't want to see him that way ever again and I would do everything in my power to make it so.

He shrugged and acted like he didn't hear a word of what I said. "I still want to meet them."

He gave me a kiss before he left the room and I sat there with my thoughts. Edward was digging himself into a hole, a very deep and emotional hole.

When I walked into the kitchen it felt like I was in a different house. Scotty was quietly eating his food with his head down, Edward was cooking breakfast and Vanessa sat at the table not dressed like a teenage prostitute. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and an old KISS t-shirt that she had cut up so it fell off the shoulder and was tied into knots down the sides. It had probably belonged to Edward back in the day. Her hair was put into a side ponytail and she stirred her yogurt with tears silently streaming down her face.

I rested my hand on her shoulder and she looked up at me shocked. Her makeup was bleeding a little at the corners of her eyes. I smiled sadly at her, "Come with me?" I asked her.

She nodded mutely and got up. I knew Edward was staring at me as we walked away but I ignored him. Vanessa was hurting and I knew that she hated me, but I couldn't bear seeing someone in that much pain. I brought her up to my room and into the bathroom. I sat her on the toilet and pulled out some of my makeup removal wipes and brought them to her face, gently wiping the makeup off her eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice was rough from all her crying.

I shrugged. "Because despite the fact that you hate me so much, I cant bear to see you so sad." When I looked into her eyes it was like I looking at Edward. They looked so much alike except for their hair color. "I don't know what I did to make you hate me so much."

She laughed once and more tears came streaming down her face. "You just came waltzing into our lives, taking over our house, our family. I saw the way my dad looked at you. It was like the way he used to look at my mom before she left. But you aren't my mother. Scotty keeps asking me if you're going to be our mother and I know that you won't stick around long enough. No one ever does. I don't want Scotty to go through what I went through. It was horrible. He didn't know our mother. She left before he was even a year old. He loves you so much already."

I wasn't sure what I could say to that. It seemed like a pretty legitimate reason for hating someone, to protect her little brother and herself from ever having to go through the pain of losing someone that they put so much trust in. I could feel the tears falling from my eyes. "I love Scotty too. And I'm not saying that I am going to be staying, though I would like to for a really long time. I know you don't want to hear this, but there's something between Edward and I that just feels different you know? Something permanent."

"I'm sure the last few girls my dad has dated felt the same way too. But they didn't live here, that's why Scotty thinks your going to be our mother. They also treated us like we didn't exist. Gold digging whores…" she muttered with disgust.

"Well I am definitely not a gold digging whore. Originally I was supposed to be a live in nanny that just cooked, cleaned and picked you guys up from school. But there was that weird connection between Edward and me. I'm sure you feel it with Jacob." I said and she nodded with a slight smile. "And then with the way you treated me, I guess it kind of brought Edward and I more together because he always ended up apologizing and then we would get to talking. I'm sorry Vanessa. I never meant to come here and have you think that I was a gold digging slut like all the other girls. I just wanted you to like me."

She gave me a slight smile. "I think I might. Some day. If you let me borrow that blouse you wore last night."

"Deal. Has your dad asked you about inviting your friends over for dinner yet?" I asked nervously.

She nodded. "Yeah,"

"Are you going to?"

After a long heavy sigh she answered me. "After the incident last night, I think I have to. I want to get on my dad's good side again."

"I think that's going to take some time." I muttered quietly.

"I know."

After our talk I helped Vanessa put on some makeup before we went back downstairs. She stood at the front door waiting for Edward and Scotty. It was almost funny seeing the resemblance between her and her father, especially when she was lacing up a pair of black worn out converse low tops.

Edward never questioned me about what she and I had talked about upstairs but did raise an eyebrow when Vanessa gave me a half smile before she walked out the door. I sat down at the kitchen table with a coffee in my hands and I felt that familiar urge, something I hadn't had in a while. My fingers were itching for my keyboard.

I ran up the stairs and grabbed my laptop and power cord, bringing them to the table. The story unfolded as I typed and I was getting close to the end of the fifth book in my series. I looked at the time on the top corner of my computer screen. It had been nearly five hours that I had been typing. I smiled as I scrolled through the hundred or so pages that I had typed. I hadn't written this much at one time since I had originally gotten the idea for the Twilight Instruments. It was supposed to be a trilogy, but now I was on book five. Jace and Arya's story just didn't want to end. I typed a quick email to my publisher telling him what I had accomplished.

I cleaned up a little and ate something before I got in the car and drove to pick up Scotty and Vanessa. Scotty was still quiet from this morning and Vanessa was as well. "How was school?" I asked them both. Scotty mumbled good and Vanessa shrugged.

When we got home I walked with Scotty up to his room. "Hey buddy, is everything okay? You've been kind of quiet today."

He sniffled a little. "I heard Daddy and Nessie last night. I asked my teacher what boarding school was today. Is he really going to send her away?"

I pulled him against my chest and he cried quietly. "Oh baby, no of course not. Your daddy was just angry and said some things that he didn't mean. Vanessa isn't going anywhere."

"Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent." I said and kissed the top of his head.

He pulled back and stared at me. His eyes were blood shot and his tan chubby face was blotchy. "I love you Bella, pinky promise me you won't leave? Nessie told me that our first mommy did. But you wont will you?" he held his little pinky up and looked at me expectantly.

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. There was no guarantee that I was going to be around forever. "I pinky promise that I will always be around." I whispered.


	21. Chapter 21

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 21_

_TPOV_

"Did you hear?" One of the nurses asked another nurse, who shook her head. "Dr. Cullen has a girlfriend!" she squealed quietly.

The other nurse stared in shock. "Really? I thought he and Tanya were a thing, well, that's what she's been telling everybody." The pencil that I was holding in my hands snapped under the pressure that I had put it under. They both turned and looked at me but quickly looked away when they saw that I had caught them gossiping.

If they were going to gossip, couldn't they do it in a place a little more private other than the nurses' station? I got up from my seat and walked towards one of the conference rooms, putting a little more shake in my walk just to make them understand that I didn't care.

But I did. How could Edward do this to me? He didn't even tell me he was seeing anyone, or the fact that we weren't a couple. Was it that "Bella" woman he was talking about on the phone? That was only a few days ago, they couldn't actually be in a relationship by now. They were only in the dating stages of what could be a relationship.

"All right everyone," the chief doctor started at the head of the table. "Those of you who were called in here should be very happy with the news that I am about to tell you. All of you are being sent to Miami for a medical conference. All the expenses paid, you're still getting paid. This is happening in two months, mark your calendar for July 24." I smiled widely and stole a glance at Edward. He looked… disappointed?

I would have to fix that now wouldn't I?

BPOV

Scotty calmed down a while later and I left him sleeping on his bed. Once downstairs I started making dinner and watched a movie on the little plasma screen that was hooked up in the kitchen.

Hands rested on my shoulders and lips grazed my cheek. I jumped, startled, and turned to see Edward standing behind me smiling. "Something smells delicious." He commented sitting down next to me.

"Tamale pie. The one thing my mother could cook." I laughed remembering all the times that she had tried to make some fancy meal for her husband Phil when he came home from work.

"Your mother sounds like a terrible cook." He commented.

I nodded. "She really is. She gave us all food poisoning more times than I care to remember."

"I bet that's one thing your dad loves about her." He said with a smile.

"My step dad Phil, maybe. My father, Charlie, on the other hand hasn't actually seen her since I was thirteen." I explained.

"What happened there?" he asked relaxing into his seat.

"Same old story really. My parents were high school sweethearts in the tiny town of Forks, Washington and they got married right after graduation. I came and then they eventually got divorced. My mom won custody of me and we moved to Phoenix where she was a kindergarten teacher and she met Phil, a minor league baseball player. I visited my dad every summer. I got a full scholarship to Columbia and ended up here in New York." I told him. I was so glad that I had chosen Columbia, without it I wouldn't have ended up here.

"Well I find your story fascinating." He said getting up and kissed me when the timer on the oven went off. "Did you have a good day?"

"I did surprisingly. It was very productive. I managed to almost finish my first draft of my book." I stated proudly. "How was your day? Anything new in doctor land?"

"Kind of. I have to go to a medical conference in two months, in Miami." He said.

"Miami? Sounds more like vacation than work."

He laughed. "Tell me about it. I guess the guys who plan these things really want to get away from their wives. It's always a very scandalous trip. You get back and there are always rumors about people sleeping with all the other doctors. And prostitutes, very popular for doctors in Miami."

"And I bet you are very innocent." I teased.

"I am. Project Purity over here," he said with a chuckle.

I shook my head. "Well I'm sure it wont be that bad. I'm going to go get the kids for dinner. Pull it out when the timer goes off." He nodded and gave me a quick kiss before I left up the stairs. Waking Scotty up was tough, but eventually he opened is little eyes and Vanessa wordlessly left her room.

Edward had pulled out the food, served everyone and was waiting patiently at the table for everybody. "So," he said as we sat down, looking to Vanessa, "Did you ask your friends if they could come over for dinner?"

"Yeah I did." She said. "They said they probably could tomorrow. Maybe we could do a barbecue? I thought it would be nice to invite Uncle Emmett and Uncle Jasper. Rose and Alice of course."

Edward smiled at his daughter. I knew she was using her aunts and uncles as a bumper in case things went badly. Not bad, she was a smart cookie. "That sounds like a good idea, why don't you call them after dinner? When you're done with the dishes of course," he tacked on to the end and she slumped in her seat a little bit.

The rest of dinner passed quietly, Edward waiting in the kitchen as Vanessa did the dishes. It was confirmed that we would be having a barbecue tomorrow.

Edward and I ended up watching television in the living room late into the night until I started nodded off. I yawned, stretching as I stood up. "I think I'm going to bed." I said pulling Edward off the couch when he offered up his hand.

"I think that's a good idea." he mumbled tiredly and wrapped his arm around my waist as we stumbled up the stairs. I pulled him to me for a kiss and pulled away, walking towards my own room when he grabbed my hand pulling me back to him. "Where are you going?"

"To my bedroom?" I said more in a question, wondering what he could be getting at.

His eyebrows knotted together on his forehead. "What about sleeping in my bedroom? I like sleeping with you." He said and a light pink colored his cheeks in the dim lighting of the hallway.

I smiled at him. "I know, but we started dating yesterday, literally. And last night, you were so helpless I couldn't leave you alone. But I don't really want to rush things, you know? Give me a few more weeks?"

Edward frowned a pouted before bringing his lips to mine for a deep, butterfly-inducing girly parts tingling kiss. His tongue gliding gently with mine, his teeth gently nipping at my lips, and a quiet moan escaped me as Edward pulled away. He smirked kissed me chastely once more before going to his room.

'He did that on purpose,' I thought to myself, because now all I wanted to do was get into bed and do anything but just sleep with him.

The next morning came and I rolled out of bed, checking the time as I went. It's been a while since I slept in till nine thirty. Downstairs I heard voices, one that sounded not so familiar to this household. I paused on the stairs wondering if I looked presentable, but then I heard that giggle that belonged to Alice. She wouldn't care if I was in my robe with bed head would she?

"Good morning, Bella!" Alice said when I walked into the kitchen. I felt very improper next to her. She was dressed very fashionably for a Saturday morning, her hair and makeup perfect.

"Hi Alice," I said pouring myself a cup of coffee. "Not to sound rude or anything but what are you doing here?"

"Just checking what we need tonight for dinner, there's going to be a lot of people." She replied.

Edward sidled up next to me, still in his pajamas. "Alice was going to go to the store, would you like to go?" Alice stood there expectantly, a hopeful look on her face. Edward leaned down and whispered in my ear. "She really wants to spend some time to get to know you."

I put on my best morning smile. "Sure, let me take a shower and get dressed. I'll be down in twenty minutes." Putting my coffee cup down.

I showered and got ready before heading back downstairs. No one was in the kitchen and I heard voices in the living room. I couldn't help but overhear a part of the conversation that was happening between Edward and Alice.

"Are you seriously considering this?" Alice asked incredulously.

"I don't know what to do Alice, she wont let me take care of her, and I don't want her influencing Scotty. She's only fifteen and she's out drinking and God knows what else." Edward replied and I immediately knew they were discussing Vanessa.

"How long have you been in contact with Victoria?" Who's Victoria?

Edward sighed. "She called me a few years ago, apparently she got married again to a guy named James Hunter. She also wanted to come over to see the kids and introduce them to him. I told her no, and we've occasionally talked. Maybe once a year since then, just as an update on how her kids are doing."

So Victoria was his ex. Why is she in a conversation about Vanessa? Was he planning on sending her to her mothers?

"Have you talked to her about it? If she couldn't take care of her when she was a baby, why should you give her that power now?"

"She wont listen to me, at all. Maybe she'll listen to her mother. Maybe that's why she's been acting this way; maybe she wants to be with her mother. A mother is something every girl needs and I haven't been able to provide that for her. She hates Bella, she wont even look at her. So I think maybe it is best for her to go be with her mother."

Tears pooled in my eyes as I stood there, eavesdropping or not. A girl needs her father too. I took a deep breath and composed myself before I entered the room. "Sorry I took so long." I said putting the best smile on I could muster.

Both their heads snapped towards me and Alice smiled. "It's alright, Edward and I were just talking. Lets go!" she bounced over to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me out the front door and into her car.

I was silent the ride there and I could feel Alice glance over at me every now and then. "Is everything okay?" she finally asked breaking the silence.

"Whose Victoria?" I blurted and immediately covered my mouth with wide eyes.

She laughed. "All I can tell you is what Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie have told me. I hadn't met Jasper yet when Edward was with her. But she is Scotty and Vanessa's mom. Apparently she was a flakey bitch who was hardly home to take care of her kids. Jasper told me that she might have been doing drugs, but honestly I don't really know. You should ask Edward about her, especially since you guys are getting cozy with each other."

I stopped breathing. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She smiled widely. "All I'm saying is you guys are getting closer. Almost serious."

I shrugged. "I guess. I feel like we are already married and we have only technically been dating for two days."

"Well, are you comfortable with where you are at?"

"Yeah I guess so. It definitely isn't the most conventional relationship."

"Every relationship is different." She said as we pulled into a parking spot. We found a cart and began roaming the store checking things off the list she had on her phone. "Tell me your life and I'll tell you mine." She said as we rounded into the frozen foods."

"Mines pretty boring. How about you go first?" I suggested.

"Alright," she said. "I was born and raised in San Francisco with my parents. My father is president of a huge cooperation. In high school I became interested in fashion. When college came, I headed to New York to be a fashion designer. Look at me now, I'm fabulous!" she giggled flipping her hair. What little of it she had to flip. "Mines pretty dull too. Your turn."

"Uh, my parents were high school sweethearts, they had me and then they split. I ended up with my mom in Arizona and then came to New York for school just like you. Except I became a writer." I shrugged.

"An amazing one! If I could have Jace or Jasper, I'm not sure which one I would choose. I don't know how you do it Bella, but you need to keep it up. You think I can get an advanced copy of your next one?" she asked excitedly and nearly jumped on top of me.

I laughed and brushed her off me. "Maybe," I said cryptically.

"I will hack your computer." She stated.

"You can try Pixie."

"Pixie?" she asked cocking her head to the side.

I shrugged. "You look like a pixie. It slipped out, sorry."

She shook her head and hugged me. "No, it's cute. I like it, Bells."

"Aww we both have nicknames now!" I squealed in fake delight, she slapped me on the arm and we continued our shopping.

When we got home Edward was in the kitchen making lunch for everyone, turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches. Apparently it was something his mom made for him and his brother all the time, but I was skeptical. But that skepticism passed when I took a bite out of heaven on a piece of wheat bread.

"I want one every day." I told Edward and kissed him on the cheek.

Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper all arrived around two, Jasper and Emmett hauling ice chests out to the back. "We come bearing alcohol!" Emmett boomed as he sat his down. Sure enough the ice chests were full of beer, vodka and whiskey. Alice and I bought soda and juice for Scotty.

Scotty and Vanessa had come downstairs and joined the family. Scotty was rough housing with Emmett, Jasper and Edward stood at the barbecue cooking up ribs the ribs first. Alice and Rosalie were sitting at the table and looked like they were in the middle of a very important conversation so I didn't want to intrude on them. Vanessa was texting on her phone and its not like she would want to talk to me anyway.

What do I do? I wondered to myself. Everyone was off in their own little world that I didn't want to barge in on, so I ended up going inside and watching television. I felt so antisocial. After a while of flipping though channels there was a knock on the door so I got up to answer.

On the other side of said door there was a group of teenagers who I assumed to be Vanessa's friends. The only person I recognized was Jacob. "Hi. Nice to see you again Jacob." I smirked slightly remembering the look on his face when Edward basically told him to get out other wise he would be eating his dick raw.

"Hello Bella," he said with a cheeky grin and I frowned slightly. "I would like to introduce you to my and Vanessa's friends. This is Alec and Jane," he said gesturing to the blonde identical twins. Jane looked pissed off and Alec just smirked at me with a wave. "Felix,"

The Emmett sized teenager winked and waved. "Hey," I smiled slightly back to be polite.

"And this is Demetri and Heidi." Jacob finished.

"Hello," Demetri said, his voice had a very thick Russian accent, which was very surprisingly endearing. Heidi just waved.

"Come on in, Vanessa's out back." I said and opened the door farther for them. Everyone but Felix went ahead instead he lingered by me. "The backyard is that way." I said pointing to the door.

"I know I was just admiring how gorgeous you are." He said with a leering grin. Were all of Vanessa's friends going to hit on me? Sure it made me feel hot, but come on, that's gross.

"I'm old enough to be your mother." I pointed out.

He just grinned and put his hand on my waist. "I like older women, more experienced."

I rolled my eyes and twirled away from his arm, heading out back. I didn't care if I was intruding on anything. I went up to Edward and wrapped myself around him. "I have a feeling this was a very bad idea, someone is going to get their ass kicked tonight." I mumbled against him.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Jasper was listening to us I glanced at him.

"What I mean is, all her male friends are leering lecherous little boys that are very handsy. Jasper watch out for Alice. I'm sure she can handle herself, but Felix, the big kid, just tried hitting on me."

I could feel Edward's chest reverberate with the growl that escaped his lips. Jasper glanced towards the table where Alice and Rose sat. They were assessing the teenagers that had just walked in and were talking with Vanessa. Occasionally they would shoot glances our ways but other than that they seemed to be in their own world.

I gave Edward a quick kiss and whispered that everything would be fine, we just had to be careful and went to sit with the girls. "Have they hit on you yet?" I asked sitting down in the chair next to Rose.

She shook her head. "Nope, they haven't come over yet. But I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the boys start making passes at us. Emmett is going to be so pissed." She added with a giggle.

"Well, the big guy with the sandy hair, his name is Felix and he is very friendly." I grumbled.

"That is so gross." Alice said in disgust.

"You're telling me? First Jacob hits on me after he gets caught by Edward for basically screwing Vanessa in his house and now this Felix kid is trying to put the moves on me."

"Wait, what?" Alice asked. "Vanessa's boyfriend hit on you?"

"He screwed Vanessa, what?" Rose asked looking between the both of us. "What did I miss?"

I told her the story of Thursday night, every detail. She nearly fell out of her chair laughing until I got to the part where Jacob trapped me in the kitchen. "What is with teenage boys? It's like anything that has a pussy they want to fuck."

Emmett came over to the table just then. "Rosie, the baby!" he whined.

"Jesus Emmett, how many times have we gone over this? Its not like the baby is going to come out swearing." She snapped and took a sip of her water. "I wish this was alcohol." She muttered.

"So it sounds like the boys are getting all touchy feely huh Bella?" Emmett asked lightly nudging me with his elbow.

"Please just don't remind me." I said and Emmett laughed. "I am so glad my pain amuses you."

"Your pain? It hurts you to get hit on by fifteen year olds does it?" he smirked.

"Sounds like a self esteem booster to me." Alice said in a sing songy voice.

"Well yeah, but its gross. So it's kind of painful to endure." I said, my reasoning kind of made sense.

"Well, the ribs are almost done," Edward, said as he and Jasper joined us. "I'll put on the hot dogs after, they'll cook quick."

"Good," Rose said, "We are starving," she rubbed her belly as she spoke and I smiled at them. Her and Emmett were going to be great parents, even though I didn't know them that well, I could just tell that that child was going to have a good life.

"There's snacks inside if you're hungry," Jasper prompted.

She shook her head. "Nah, we're okay."

Laughing became louder and I looked up to see Vanessa leading her friends over to where we adults were sitting. She introduced everyone before leaving once more. I had never seen her look so happy.

"I don't like the way that big kid looks at you girls." Emmett said once they were out of hearing distance.

"Nothing we can really do about it." Jasper mumbled into his beer bottle.

Edward had left to get the ribs off the barbecue and put on the hot dogs. Twenty minutes later everything was set out on the picnic table. Everything looked amazing.

After everyone grabbed a plate full of food we sat down back at the table where we had been sitting before, but Vanessa and her friends joined us this time.

I took a bite out of my ribs and sighed in contentment. "These ribs are fantastic," I said to Edward.

"Why thank you," he laughed and kissed my barbecue sauce covered lips. I didn't look up to see the kids reactions, instead just continued to eat.

Everyone seemed to be having their own conversations throughout dinner but people quieted when Alec spoke. "Bella,"

"Yes?"

He smirked at me, his blonde hair falling into his eyes. "Felix and I were wondering, how much you charge for your services? And if you swallow after giving head? These are things that a paying customer should know."

Let the fun begin.


	22. Chapter 22

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 22_

_BPOV_

"We brought cash," Felix added as if that would help the situation.

I heard glass shatter as it hit the ground but no one said anything. I guess everyone was too caught up in the situation. Fists slammed on the table and I looked to Edward who was glaring at Felix. I checked around the table to see everyone reactions. Vanessa was staring at Alec with wide eyes and her mouth was open. Jane and Heidi were snickering quietly and Demetri was silently staring at me. Scotty was looking around wondering what was going on.

Alice was staring blankly, Rose looked like she was going to shove her foot up someone's ass, Jasper pulled Alice closer, and Emmett, well, I think he was trying to murder one of the boys with his eyes.

I put my hand on Edward's hand coaxing him to look at me. His face visibly softened when he finally did. "Edward, relax. Its fine."

"No Bella, it is not fine. This kid thinks he can come to my house and just disrespect you like that?" he spat looking back at Alec. I heard little sniffles; Scotty had started crying seeing his father this way.

I sighed. I told him this was going to be a bad idea, but he wouldn't listen to me. One boy was enough but now we had the whole group.

"She is a whore isn't she? That's why you're paying her." Alec said. Was this kid blind? Did he not see that he was going to get his ass kicked? How could he say those things in front of a six year old?

I cleared my throat. "Uh, Vanessa?" she looked timidly at me, almost scared. "Do you think you could show your friends out? I think this little gathering is over."

She nodded quickly and guided her friends out. Alec and Felix lingered but Jacob roughly grabbed their shirts pulling them inside.

"What the fuck just happened?" Rosalie asked looking around.

"What just happened is that those two little pricks called Bella a prostitute." Emmett growled and got up from his seat and started making way for the sliding door into the house.

"Emmett," Jasper called warily, "Where are you going?" Emmett didn't answer, instead he just kept walking and everyone seemed to stunned to move until Jasper shot up out of his chair quickly followed by Rose and Alice. "That dumb-ass better not do anything…" he moaned as he chased after him.

Edward sat back down. "Are you just going to let Emmett go after them?" I asked incredulously.

"They deserve it," was all he said. I narrowed my eyes at him and went inside.

Alice and Rosalie were standing in the archway staring at the scene before them so I joined them. Over by the front door Emmett had Felix pinned to the wall and was screaming at him. Felix looked like he was going to shit his pants if he hadn't already. Jasper was struggling to get Emmett to back off but Emmett was much bigger and stronger than Jasper was. "If you ever try anything again with Bella I swear to God I will kick your scrawny little ass." He stepped away from the kid. "Now get the fuck out."

Felix did as he was told and Emmett turned around. He rushed over to where us girls were and instead of going to Rosalie like I thought he would he grabbed me, pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry Bells." He mumbled into my hair. I hadn't realized I was crying until I felt my tears soak through his tee shirt. "I know we only met on Wednesday but I like you. You don't deserve that bullshit. Just because you and Edward got together in a strange situation doesn't give them the right to treat you like a whore. Which you're not!" he said in a rush.

I squeezed him back tightly. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."

"Anytime."

Emmett let go of me and I turned around to see Edward standing in the doorway. "What happened?" he asked.

"Emmett almost killed a kid." Jasper replied.

"Well he kind of deserved it." Alice piped up.

I shook my head and hugged Edward tightly when he came to stand by us. "I hate to sound rude, but maybe you guys should leave. Bella and I need to talk."

"Of course." Jasper said and hugged both Edward and me as he and Alice left, Rose and Emmett doing the same thing.

When they left I slumped into Edward and the tears came quicker. "Bella, are you all right?" he guided us to the couch and sat us down. He rubbed soothing circles into my back as I cried.

"Hardly." I replied after a while. "Yesterday I felt like Vanessa and I might actually be starting to get along. And then this. She didn't say anything to stop him! Clearly she has been telling all her friends and everyone at school that I'm just some slut that you hired to have sex with!"

"Bella, please love, you are not a slut. And remember? We agreed that I wouldn't pay you so you wouldn't feel like one."

"Like that matters." I grumbled. "I'm going to go put Scotty to bed." I got up and walked back outside, everything was just as it was left. Scotty sat at his seat tears streaming down his face. "Hey baby," I said and pulled him to me. "Everything is okay, don't worry."

"Why is daddy so angry all the time?" he cried into my shirt.

"Shh, baby, you're daddy is just going through a hard time. Don't worry." I pulled him out of his chair and grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to his room. I put him in his pajamas and lay him down in bed holding his hand until he finally fell asleep.

Instead of going to see Edward downstairs again I just walked back to my room and locked the door behind me. I undressed and got in the shower standing in the hot water, not doing anything, just standing there. Maybe staying here with Edward is a bad idea. Especially since we are in a relationship, well sort of.

If I moved out, things would be better. Vanessa wouldn't be as angry all the time and Edward and I could still continue our relationship, just more conventionally. I could always visit. Then again I lived in Manhattan, so that might be a bit of a long distance relationship. Maybe I could move here to Westchester? Get a little house somewhere nearby? I could still help pick up the kids and do stuff like that, but I wouldn't be living with Edward so the whole prostitution thing would be out of the question.

I smiled at my logic and shut of the water that had run cold. I pulled on my pajamas and got into bed, I had a plan and I fell asleep thinking that maybe my plan could work.

The next morning it was quiet around the house when I woke up. Scotty was watching cartoons downstairs, but I couldn't find Vanessa or Edward. Edward wasn't in his room so I went downstairs to look in his office. The door was open a little and I heard him talking to someone on the phone. "So what do you think? Will you take care of at least one of your kids for the first time in your life?" there was a pause. "Don't give me that bullshit Vicky, if you had always been capable of taking care of your kids you wouldn't have left them with me." He growled into the phone.

I gasped in shock. Was he really talking to Victoria about sending Vanessa away? I can't believe that he would actually do that. He wouldn't, he loves his daughter too much.

I opened the door and stepped in the room. He looked up startled. "I have to go." He said and hung up the phone.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked already knowing.

"Nobody," he answered quickly. I raised my eyebrows and nodded, rocking back on my heals before sitting in one of the chairs in the room. The walls were painted in a chocolaty brown and there were bookshelves covered in books, most looked like medical volumes. All the furniture was antique.

"There's something that I want to talk to you about." I said and his face paled a little, expecting bad news. "I did some thinking last night and I think it would be better if I moved out."

"What?" he said his eyes wide. "No, you cant, I need you here to help with the kids and,"

I raised my hand silencing him. "I'm tired of everyone we meet automatically thinking I'm a prostitute because I moved in with you and I'm not technically a nanny. Especially since we started dating. I thought that maybe I could move out of my apartment and move into a little house here in Westchester. That way I could keep helping out with the kids but we could have a more conventional relationship. I feel like we are already married and we just started dating. But despite that, I really like you Edward. And I want to see where this relationship goes."

Edward looked defeated. "When is your lease up on your apartment?"

"Not until September, but I'll keep paying. I want to make this work." I got up and sat down on his lap giving him a kiss that he eagerly returned.

"Scotty is going to be heartbroken you know." He said.

I laughed. "I know, but I'm not leaving him. I don't think I could even if I wanted to." I said honestly. I wasn't lying, that little boy has stolen my heart.

"When do you want to start looking at houses?"

"Soon, I think the sooner I get out of here the better things will become. If things work out between us, who knows, I might move back in sometime in the future." I winked.

"I will do everything I can to make it so." He said and kissed me once more.


	23. Chapter 23

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 23_

_VPOV_

I heard the familiar voices of my friends and looked up from my phone to see them all walking out of the house. I noticed that Felix came out a little later than everyone else had and I started to worry a little bit, Felix was a man-whore.

Jacob swooped me up into his arms and I forgot all about my worries, I loved being in his arms. I could feel the looks that my family was giving me, and I pulled myself away from him. "Hey guys, thanks for coming over."

"No problem," Jane said and we sat down on the grass away from everyone else. "So we met Bella,"

"She's hot." Alec said simply. "I totally know why your dad hired her. I would want that ass around my house all the time too."

"Oh shut up you perv," Jane said smacking him in the stomach.

He rolled his eyes and looked to Felix. "So, how did it go between you and 'mommy'?" he said with air quotes.

I bit my lip awaiting his answer. He smirked. "I was all up on that shit. But she didn't take the bait."

"Bummer." Alec said.

After that things went back to how they always were, Alec and Felix talking about sex, Jane talking with me, Jake rubbing circles on my back and Demetri and Heidi off in their own little love bubble. Occasionally I would glance up and see my aunts looking at us intently while talking and I would shrink down into Jacob's side.

Jake noticed my tension and quietly called me out on it. "Hey, are you alright?" he whispered softly into my ear.

I looked up at him and smiled slightly and looked back down. "Yeah I'm fine. I just hope that this dinner goes all right is all. Kind of freaked out."

"Don't worry," Jake said and kissed my cheek. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

"I really hope you're right," I mumbled.

My dad called over to us when the food was done and we got up and sat on the opposite side of the table as the adults. I sat there awkwardly as everyone served themselves and ate. I stopped eating at stared at my dad and Bella as they kissed, Bella with barbecue sauce all over her face from the ribs, getting it all over my dad's face. I took in a shaky breath, seeing how happy they were, even though they had only been together a short amount of time. I could see that their relationship was something special, something that most people don't come by. Like an instant connection, like they were meant to be together. I saw that look every time I saw Heidi and Demetri together. Or Emmett and Rose, Alice and Jasper. I liked to think that's what Jake and I had.

I relaxed a little; everything seemed to be going okay.

That is until Alec opened up his big mouth. "Bella," he called to her.

"Yes?" she said completely unaware the Alec was the biggest asshole she could ever meet. Hot, totally do-able and a great friend, but an asshole nonetheless.

"Felix and I were wondering, how much you charge for your services? And if you swallow after giving head? These are things that a paying customer should know."

I looked back and forth between Bella's shocked face and Alec's devilish smirk.

"We brought cash." Felix said.

I looked around the table and Alice's glass had slipped from her hands. My gaze had fallen on Alec once more, he seemed unfazed by the looks my dad and uncle's were giving him and Alec.

I was completely paralyzed where I sat. I couldn't have moved even if I tried. My dad's fists slammed down on the table causing me to jump in my seat a bit and I turned to stare at him. Bella's face was saddened as she put her hand on his arm to help calm him down. I hadn't seen my dad this furious before, not even when he caught Jacob in my room. Jealousy shot through me, he cared more about Bella than he did about me didn't he? That's why he's angrier now than he was then.

"No Bella, it is not fine." My father snarled staring straight at Alec.  
"This kid thinks he can come to my house and just disrespect you like that?"

Bella sighed and looked away, at a loss of what to do.

"She is a whore isn't she? That's why you're paying her." Alec said mocking confusion.

"Uh, Vanessa?" Bella asked and I slowly turned my head to look at her. "Could you show you're friends out? I think this little gathering is over."

I nodded quickly and stood up, Jake had to drag Alec and Felix into the house. I started to panic when I heard fast heavy footsteps from the hall. Everyone had left and Felix was about to walk out the door when Uncle Emmett grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Vanessa, go to your room." He growled. Scared, I did as I was told and I ran up the stairs as fast as I could, tripping a few times and stumbled into my room, throwing the door shut behind me. I could hear yells from downstairs and I slid down the back of the door, holding my head in my hands crying.

My family hates me; they are never going to speak to me again. Why would they? I'm the family fuck-up; no one wants me around. I'm bitchy and everything that I shouldn't be. And I don't know how to fix it.

The yelling quieted down and so did my sobs. I silently opened my door and stood at the railing where I could see down and hear everything that was happening downstairs.

"She didn't say anything to stop him! Clearly she has been telling all her friends and everyone at school that I'm just some slut that you hired to have sex with!" Bella said irritated.

"Bella, please love, you are not a slut. And remember? We agreed that I wouldn't pay you so you wouldn't feel like one." My dad said soothingly. He called her love… does he love her? No, he cant they have only been together for a few days, that would be crazy, its just a nickname.

"Like that matters." She grumbled. "I'm going to go put Scotty to bed." I got up and swiftly ran back to my room and shut the door. I turned on my music loud enough that I couldn't hear outside and no one could hear me in here.

Sobs wracked through my body once more. Bella was right, I didn't say anything to stand up for her. I just sat there like a dumbass while my friends insulted her. To her face. But what could I do? If I were to do that then my friends would question me, they would wonder what happened for me to go from hating her one-day to being all buddy-buddy with her.

Eventually I ended up crying myself to sleep, even with my music still on.

The sound of the phone ringing woke me up from my fitful sleep. I picked up the phone and was about to say hello when I heard my father say hello first. I was about to hang up when I heard the distinctly familiar voice.

"Hello Edward," her voice was high-pitched, almost childlike.

"Thanks for calling me back Victoria." My father replied sounding like he really just wanted to hang up.

My curiosity got the best of me and I stayed on the line. Why was my mother calling? Why did my dad call her in the first place?

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked bored.

There was a pause and I could hear my dad take a deep breath. "Vanessa,"

"What about her?" My mom's interest seemed to pique at the interest of me. So did mine.

"I was wondering if you would be willing to take care of her for a while." My eyes widened and I nearly dropped the phone. I made sure to stay quiet and not hint that I was on the line.

"And why would that be, Edward?" My mother asked as if this was some sort of game that she was winning.

"Because she is out of control. She won't listen to me and she is out partying all night long, coming home hung over. I've been doing some thinking that maybe she could use a mother figure in her life. Something that I haven't been able to provide." He said quietly.

She laughed from the other end. "Oh this is rich. The man who stole my kids from me,"

"Their mine too Victoria." My dad snapped interrupting her.

"The man whole took my kids away from me," her voiced got louder. "Then refused to let me see them, wants me to take care of my daughter because he cant."

"It wouldn't be permanent. Remember, I still have full custody over both of them."

"When would this happen? For how long?" she asked.

"When school lets out for only a few weeks this summer." My dad answered stiffly.

"Huh," she said noncommittally.

"So what do you think? Will you take care of at least one of your kids for the first time in your life?" my dad asked coldly.

"I have always wanted to. I have always been able to! You took them from me! Then when I fixed myself up and knew I was really capable of taking care of them you wouldn't let me near them!" she yelled into the phone.

"Don't give me that bullshit Vicky, if you had always been capable of taking care of the kids you wouldn't have left them with me." He growled.

Truth is, I didn't know the whole story behind my parents divorce, why it happened or any details. All I knew was what my dad told me. She left one day then filed for divorce and he won custody over my brother and me. I hated her for what she did, but I hated everyone who ever tried to take her place too. I lost any connection to having a mother; I didn't need one. Nor did I want one. I was just fine.

My mother was shrieking unintelligibly on the other end and I heard my dad say rushed, "I have to go." Before he hung up.

I hung up and put the phone back in its receiver and pulled my knees to my chest. No tears fell from my eyes, they were dry. I didn't know what to do. I shut down. Numbly I reached for my cell phone and texted Jacob telling him to meet me at the park that we used to go to as children.

I pulled on a pair of pants and a sweatshirt, pulling my hair into a bun on top of my head. I cleaned up the smudged makeup off my face from last night and walked down the stairs. I left a note before I made my way over to the park. People stared at me as I walked, I looked like shit, but I didn't care anymore.

I went to the furthest tree in the park and sat under it, waiting for Jake to come. I saw his Rabbit pull up to the curb. He had built it at the garage he worked at, he was so proud when he finally finished this past summer.

He spotted me and jogged over and sat down next to me. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me closer to him. "Baby, what's wrong?" he asked.

I sniffled. "The phone woke me up this morning and I went to answer it but my dad did at the same time. I was still on the line but he didn't know. He was talking to my mom." I choked out.

"I thought you said your mom left when you were little and you haven't heard from her since the divorce?"

"That's what I thought. I guess things changed since then. He wants to ship me off to her once the year is over. He says that he doesn't know what to do with me anymore since I don't really listen to him and the way I treated Bella." I sniffled. "I don't know how to fix this, I don't want to leave. I don't even know where she lives!"

"Ness, baby, please don't cry." He pleaded.

"I don't want to be away from you, I – I," I stumbled on the words; I didn't know how he would react. "I love you Jacob." I said and looked into his light brown eyes.

He smiled and pulled me onto his lap, kissing me. He sat there holding me for a while, no one saying anything. He rubbed my back and messed with some of the strands of hair that were hanging down from my bun. It didn't escape me that he never said 'I love you' back to me.

Jacob dropped me off at home and I walked into the living room to see everyone sitting there waiting. Scotty waved at me from the love seat. "Vanessa, there you are, I was wondering when you would be back." My dad said.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I just needed some air, I left a note."

He nodded. "I saw that, thank you." He said and smiled lovingly at me. Tears pooled in my eyes when he smiled at me like that. I blinked them away and sat down on one of the chairs.

"So," I said and cleared my throat. "What's going on?"

Bella and my dad looked at each other their hands were intertwined resting on my dad's lap. My dad spoke. "There are a few things that we wanted to talk to you kids about." He paused gauging our reactions. "First, Bella is going to move out."

Scotty burst into tears. "No Bella you can't go! You can't leave, you're my new mommy!" he wailed and ran to Bella, throwing himself on top of her and squeezing her tightly.

"I'm still going to be around, you don't need to worry." She said gently stroking his hair. "I'm just moving into a different house nearby. Hopefully in the same neighborhood so you can ride your bike and come see me."

"When?" I asked.

"I was hoping to start house-hunting this week and put an offer down. I want to make this transition quick. I was thinking that maybe in the next few weeks I could be settling down in my new place." She said. Scotty calmed down with this news, but still hugged her tightly.

"Why?" I asked.

She looked at the ground as she answered. "For obvious reasons. The whole prostitution thing really was the final straw. I feel like it would be in everyone's best interest if I moved out. Your father and I could start on having a relationship that isn't like we are already married." She gazed into my father's eyes as she said this and there was almost a glow about them.

I nodded. "Anything else I need to know?"

Dad turned to me and I saw Bella look down and bite her lip. I knew what was coming. "I'm going to take Scotty upstairs." Bella said and they scurried up the stairs. I heard a door shut and looked back at my dad.

"I've been doing some thinking."

"About sending me to mom." I finished for him.

He looked at me confused. "How did you-"?

"This morning," I said. "The phone woke me up. We answered at the same time. I heard mom's voice and I got curious. I heard the whole conversation. You don't know what to do with me so you want to send me to mom. And clearly she agreed." My voice was emotionless and my dad sat there shocked.

"Vanessa," he said. "With all the stuff that has been going on, I really don't know what to do with you." He said defeated. "I have tried everything, you wont talk to me. What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know." I said numbly.

"I'm sorry, baby girl." He whispered and looked like he wanted to hug me but thought better of it.

I nodded robotically. I got up and walked towards the stairs. "I'm sorry," I murmured quietly, I knew he couldn't hear me.

I locked my door behind me and then I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. There were a few knocks at my door but I didn't answer them. My phone vibrated a few times but I didn't pick it up. I just continued to stare at the blank white ceiling of my room.


	24. Chapter 24

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 24_

_BPOV_

"That's the last box!" Scotty said excitedly as we put the huge box down. I smiled widely at him and gave him a high five. His smile fell as he looked at all the boxes piled around the room. "Now we have to unpack them."

"We don't have to do that right now. Your dad and uncle should be over soon with the U-Haul and all the furniture. We have to unpack all that stuff before we can unpack all these boxes." I told him.

He scowled at me and lay down on the hardwood floors of my brand new living room. About a month or so ago Edward and I had started house hunting around his neighborhood and found a cute little three bedroom two bath a few blocks over from where his house was. Scotty and Alice had come with us when we found it. It needed a little work and Alice volunteered on doing most of the renovations. All the floors were replaced with dark hardwood and each room was painted a different color. My bedroom was painted a chocolate brown color with a red bed-set and cherry furniture. The guest room was minimalist, whites and blacks. My office was painted an oceanic blue with black furniture. The living room was beige and brown, the kitchen a warm yellow with new appliances.

I was a very happy girl to say the least.

The school year had ended for Scotty and Vanessa about a couple weeks ago and she had left to her mother's house. Edward said he hadn't heard anything from her in a while, so no one really knew how things were going.

Edward and I had advanced in our relationship a little. More casual dates, but I still felt like we were already married. Especially when as far as we had gotten sexually was heated making out on the couch before we went to bed. I couldn't wait to see how things would be now that we weren't living together. It was decided that I would come over every Saturday and Sunday to cook dinner and help clean up around the house.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out and saw a picture of Edward and me on the screen and smiled as I answered it. "Hello?"

"There's been a change of plans," he said hurriedly. I could hear Emmett screaming in the background, but I couldn't make out a word that he was saying.

"What's going on?" I asked worriedly. Scotty shot up and looked at me with a scared expression.

Instead of Edward's voice I heard Emmett screaming into the phone. "My water broke! My baby is coming right now!"

"Yeah," Edward said with a laugh. "So we need you and Scotty down at the hospital right now. We will meet you there." He hung up and I turned to look at Scotty who looked like he was about to start crying.

"We need to go, we have to get to the hospital." I said without thinking.

The tears spilled over. "What happened?"

"Your baby cousin is coming!"

The tears stopped and he started bouncing up and down. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. I locked up quickly and hopped in the car. We raced over there a good ten miles over the speed limit. I thanked my lucky stars that we didn't get pulled over. We ran into the hospital lobby and up to the front desk where a startled nurse looked up at us. "Maternity Ward?" I asked breathless.

"Fourth floor." She stuttered pointing at the elevator.

I smiled at her and tugged Scotty with me towards the elevator and pressed the number four. Right before the doors were about to close a hand stopped them. A tall woman and in pink scrubs stepped in. Her strawberry blond hair was pulled up into a curled ponytail and she smiled at us, pressing her own number. "Hello," she said in a sweet voice.

"Hi," Scotty said and I waved.

"Headed to the Maternity Ward?" she asked conversationally.

"Yeah," I laughed. "My boyfriends brother is having a baby, well, his wife is."

"Congratulations," she said as the doors opened to the fourth floor. Edward stood on the other side pacing. He stopped when the doors opened and smiled at me and Scotty ran up to him. I heard the woman next to me suck in a breath of air before the doors closed on her.

"You got here fast." He said with a smile.

"Speeding does that," I kissed him chastely on the lips and Scotty made a gagging noise.

We both laughed at his antics and sat down in the chairs in the waiting area. "Is Emmett with Rose?"

"Yeah," he said. "He was freaking out when we were in the car. I was almost afraid that he was going to get us into an accident."

"That sounds like your brother."

"Where's my cousin?" Scotty asked.

"He's on his way. It might be a few hours though." Edward replied.

Edward's parents, Jasper and Alice showed up a little while later. Three hours later we went down to the food court to grab some lunch. Two hours after that Scotty was hungry and wanted a snack. I had gone through each magazine in the waiting room and finally after another two hours Emmett came out in a blue gown with a big smile on his face.

"Who wants to meet the newest member of our family?"

Alice squealed and jumped up. We all followed Emmett into the delivery room. Rosalie was lying in bed, hair matted down on her forehead, smiling down at the little bundle in her arms, which I noticed, was wrapped in a blue blanket. She looked up as we all piled into the room.

Scotty tried to rush over to her but Jasper held him back.

"Everyone," she said, "This is Jace Austin," a soft sob sounded in the room and I looked to see Esme holding her hands over her mouth. "Do you want to hold him?" she asked offering his little body over to Esme.

She eagerly reached for him and sat down rocking him in her arms whispering to him. Carlisle sat next to her, staring in wonder at the little being. "Oh Rose, he's beautiful."

"He looks like his father. He has my eyes and hair though. But that blond will probably end up darkening." She said.

Everyone was looking over Esme's shoulder as she held him, trying to get his or her best look at the little boy.

"What happened to Jace Daniel if it was a boy?" I asked pulling up a chair next to Rosalie.

She laughed tiredly. "I was thinking a lot about it and I came to the realization that if he had the initials of J D people would start calling him that. I always hated those nicknames, so I came up with Austin. I like the name and you cant call him by some stupid nickname that makes him sound like a tool."

"Smart thinking." I quipped.

"So how have things been with you?" she asked. Rosalie had always been at home resting whenever Emmett came over. Her feet and back were starting to kill her towards the last few weeks of her pregnancy, so I hadn't seen her in a while.

"Alright I guess. Vanessa is at her moms, and we were moving all my things in today and then little Jace came along and we had a change of plans."

"Sorry," she mumbled.

I laughed. "Its no big deal. Besides, I'm really glad I got to be here today for this. It's amazing."

"It really is, isn't it? Being able to bring another innocent life into the world. All because of the greatest thing in the world."

"And what's that?"

"Sex," she replied easily.

I smiled at her. She and Emmett were perfectly matched, and now they had a baby boy.

We left about an hour later when the nurse came in and said that the baby and Rose needed their rest.

"So did you come in the U-Haul or were you still at the house when you got the call?" I asked Edward as we entered the parking lot.

"We were in the U-Haul on our way over." He smirked.

"So I'll meet you back at my place?" he nodded at me and I turned to Scotty to ask him if he wanted to go with his dad, or me he gripped Edward's leg and followed him over to the monstrous orange and white vehicle.

As I pulled into the driveway of my new little house Edward pulled up behind me. "Are we going to unload all that by ourselves?" I asked incredulously when Edward opened the back of the truck.

He shrugged. "All the light furniture is in the front so we could take that stuff in, and I could call Jasper to see if he could stop by to help."

"Sounds good," I said grabbing onto a side table.

***SAT

Three weeks later

I sat on the bed and watched as Edward packed his back. The night before he left for Miami.

"I'm going to miss you." I mumbled quietly.

He sighed and dropped his pants in his suitcase before pushing me onto my back on the bed, him holding his weight on top of me. I knotted my hands into his soft wavy locks of hair and he dropped his lips to mine capturing them in a kiss full of longing.

"You have no idea how much I'm going to miss you." He whispered, his hands sliding under the fabric of my shirt and resting on my stomach. Before I could say anything else he pressed his lips to mine, this time with more fervor. He tried to pull my shirt up over my head but I pulled away.

"Edward," I said. Normally I would have let him take this as far as he wanted; there was so much sexual tension and boy did I want to release that tension but, "You have to pack, your flight leaves at nine tomorrow morning."

"We have been together almost three months now," he murmured into my neck.

"I know," I giggled. "You didn't even get me a month-aversary present either. I'm disappointed. You are always such the perfect gentlemen, always on top of things."

"What the hell is a month-aversary?" he asked rolling off of me.

I laughed pulling my shirt down and sitting up. "Never mind. Get moving you have a lot of packing to do for two weeks."

"But I don't wanna go," he whined like a baby.

"Yeah, two weeks paid vacation in Miami. You have such a horrible life."

"I would much rather be spending that time with you," he said playing with the hem of my shirt.

I raised my hand up to caress the side of his face. "When you get back, I promise." He looked at me raising an eyebrow. "Trust me," I said, "I want this just as bad as you." I rolled off the bed and went to his closet looking through his clothes. He quickly joined me and we finished packing around eleven. We crawled into bed and turned on the TV settling on a movie. Edward was out like a light.

We were up bright and early at six in the morning to eat breakfast and get on the road to the airport. Scotty was more than awake oh to be young and wake up at six in the morning just because.

We dropped Edward off and Scotty and I said our goodbyes.

Edward pulled me close and whispered in my ear, "I'm holding you to that promise you made to me last night," he nipped my neck and I bit back a moan when he kissed me one last time before he left to check in his bags. When I turned around to grab Scotty's hand a flash of familiar strawberry blond hair bounced in front of my eyes. I shook it off and went back to my fully furnished new home.


	25. Chapter 25

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 25_

_EPOV_

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, checking to see if Bella had called, sent a text anything. Nothing. I texted her hours ago, then I called with no answer.

"Can I get you anything Mr. Cullen?" the bartender asked.

"Jack Daniels, leave the bottle," I replied.

"Make that two," a voice said and I turned to see that Tanya had sat next to me on a barstool. She turned and smiled at me. "What's got you ordering Mr. Daniels?" Tanya asked throwing back her shot.

I did the same and stared at my phone again – nothing. "Its been almost two days since my girlfriend called or texted me,"

"Bella?" I looked at her curiously, wondering how she knew Bella's name. I couldn't remember ever telling her. "The nurses like to gossip," she explained and blushed looking down at her empty shot glass.

"Oh," I said and filled my glass, then emptying it again. "That makes sense. What about you?"

Tanya sighed. "Long day at the convention, then my boyfriend and I got into this huge fight." She grabbed the bottle, not bothering to pour it into a glass and took a long drink.

"I didn't realize you were seeing anybody," I said.

She nodded. "Yeah, we've been together almost two months now, kind of a record for me." She added grimly.

"What's his name?"

She was quiet for a moment, "Uh, Kyle Butler,"

"What's he like?" I took a long swing from the bottle, the drink burning my throat. Bella still hadn't texted me back.

"I don't know, he's nice enough, but most of the time he's a total asshole."

"If he is such an ass why are you with him?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I guess it's nice to be wanted by someone, to have someone care for you and hold you and protect you. I like knowing that someone is there and that they want me and no one else."

I was taken aback. I felt bad for ending our one-week relationship. "I didn't know that it meant that much to you,"

She shook her head, "Its fine, I mean, I have Kyle,"

I finished up the bottle. "You know if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you. That's what friends are for, right?" the alcohol was starting to hit me and it hit me hard.

"Yeah, friends are great." She said.

I spotted a jukebox in the corner of the bar and stood up, I walked over to it and flipped through the songs before finding one that I wanted to listen to. "What are you doing?" Tanya called to me.

"You'll find out," I called back with a big grin. I put in money and selected the song I wanted. Piano music burst from the speakers and heard a groan from the bar.

I danced my way over to her and held out my hand. "Would you care to dance?"

"Your drunk," she stated.

"I don't see how that fact applies right now," I grabbed her hand and pulled her off her seat and dragged her out into the middle of the bar. She had her arms around my neck and I held her close to me. We swayed back and forth like we were in high school even as the song ended and I laid my head on her shoulder. "I sent my daughter away." I whispered.

"I think we should get out of here," she said and pulled away. "Why don't we go to my hotel room? We can talk there." She grabbed my hand and we walked out of the bar. Her fingers laced with mine as we walked the block to the hotel where we were all staying. I slumped into her as we rode the elevator.

When we got into her room I fell onto her bed and she brought me a bottle from the mini fridge. "Why did you send Vanessa away?" she asked me calmly.

I shrugged. "I didn't know what to do with her. She would go out with her friends, drinking, doing drugs and god knows what else. She wouldn't listen to me…"

"What did Bella say?" she asked sitting next me.

"She didn't like it, she thought I should keep trying." I said bitterly. I hated the way Bella looked at me that day. I grabbed the bottle that Tanya gave me and read the label, Smirnoff. I opened it and chugged a good quarter of the bottle. It burned, but it felt good. I was such an ass. I send my daughter to live with her cunt of a mother and then I practically beg Bella to have sex with me. I was a douche to Tanya back home, ignoring her, never talking to her when she was actually nice to talk to. We both needed friends.

"You did what you had to do." She said wrapping her arms around me.

"You really think so?" I whispered almost inaudibly, pulling away to look her. I searched her eyes; they were the clearest blue that I had ever seen. I took another long drink from the bottle, getting to just below half the bottle.

"I do, sometimes you just have to do things that work for you, and are better for everyone in the long run rather than worrying about what everyone else thinks of those decisions." She said and put her hands on my cheeks.

"You are a beautiful woman, Tanya," I said. "I'm sorry for ignoring you after our date."

She smiled at me and pressed her lips to mine, pushing me onto my back.

BPOV

Edward had been gone three days and these were the three busiest days I had had in a while. I finished my book the first day he left after dropping Scotty off at his summer camp. The second day I brought my manuscript to my publisher so that he could verify that everything was done. Unfortunately I ran into Mike at the office and had to have lunch with him. It felt rude to decline. Eric was working through lunch so I couldn't really use him as my cover like I normally could.

When I got back into town I had to go to the grocery store before going home to clean my house. Since Scotty had been living with me, things got really dirty really quickly. I hadn't had a chance to talk to Edward since I texted him about my book being done.

Today was the third day that Edward had been gone and Alice invited me to a girl's day. The manuscript had been sent to my editor, my house was clean, I had food, and laundry was done, so I figured, why not?

Alice pulled up to the house in her bright yellow Porche and I rushed down to see her. "Hey girly!" she said when I got in and reached over the center consol to give me an awkward hug.

"Hey," I said and she pulled away from the house. "How have things been?"

"Good, I finally got my fall collection done! That one was tough. I wanted something edgy and new with things that other designers would be jealous and I think I finally got it."

"That's great, I'm really happy for you. Do you think I could get a sneak preview of it?" I said.

She laughed. "Only if I get a sneak preview of your next book."

"I just sent my manuscript to the editors yesterday," I told her.

She squealed like a teenage girl. "You finished it? And you didn't tell me!"

"Sorry, but you will get the first copy when it comes out. I promise."

"I better, and I want it autographed and everything." She said with a grin.

"Done,"

We stopped by a little café for lunch, discussing random topics, like how she was waiting for Jasper to propose (its been a year and Alice is anxious), how she is going to have her wedding and asking me what color scheme would be good for her personality. Normally, I had found with Alice, I could get away with just listening to her talk with little input, but today she seemed adamant about my opinion, so I had very little time to check my phone or send out a quick text. I told her about Edward's and my plan to go all the way for the first time. I felt like I was in high school all over again when I hung out with her. To say that she freaked out would be an understatement. I think everyone in that café now knows that Edward Cullen and Bella Swan will be having sex when Edward gets back from Miami.

After lunch Alice took me to her favorite spa and we spent the rest of the day getting pampered and relaxed. She even scheduled a mani-pedi's and getting our hair done. She said she wanted me to look "fuck-able" when Edward got back. Another week and a half. I was counting down the days until his return.

When we were done with our spa day it was nearly four thirty and time to pick up Scotty from his day camp. When I walked in the front doors of the recreational complex the counselors stared at me. Mainly the young men, fresh out of high school. I rolled my eyes and sighed remembering what happened not too long ago with Vanessa's friends.

I walked up to the young girl at the front desk, "I'm here for Scotty Cullen," I said and she nodded pulling up a page on her computer.

"Right this way," she said and led me to one of the playrooms that were filled with screaming kids all Scotty's age.

I found Scotty playing soccer with some of his friends and he ran to me when he saw me. "Hey buddy, do you have all your stuff?"

He nodded and he told me all about his day. How they went to the park then to the pool and how he made lots of new friends. I was really starting to get into this "mom" thing. I almost wanted him to call me "mom" but I felt like that was a bit much right now. Would Edward ever want to have more kids? One of our own, not that anything was wrong with Scotty and Vanessa, but a baby that had equal parts of the both of us?

I shook my head; that was getting a little heavy for how new our relationship was. We hadn't even had sex yet.

Scotty and I had a lovely dinner of hotdogs and chili and I put him to bed early since he fell asleep watching cartoons at seven. I showered, relishing the warm water. Things were finally going well in life, perfect maybe. I had Edward and his kids, my books were moving along, and I had new friends and a new family.

When I got out and got dressed in my pajamas the phone rang. I groaned and pulled it off the receiver. "Hello?" I asked.

There was short quick breathing coming from the other end. "Bella?" a voice asked.

"Yes?"

"Its N-Nessie." She stuttered and coughed and breathed again.

I straightened up. "Nessie what's wrong?"

She sobbed into the phone. "I don't know what t-to do." She cried.

"What happened, where are you?" I asked grabbing my keys and cell phone.

"I- I don't know,"

"Are you at a house, on a street?"

"S-street,"

"Which one?"

She cried for a moment before she responded. "Seventh," she said a little more calm.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, just stay where you are, don't move. I'm going to get someone tow watch Scotty then I will be right there to pick you up."

I called Emmett and asked him to come pick up Scotty and I waited for him to arrive. Five minutes later and I heard his jeep pull up. "What's going on Bella?" he asked bursting through the door.

"I don't know, Vanessa called me crying saying that she was on a street somewhere and I need to go get her, so I need you to take Scotty for the night."

He paced in the room clenching his fists. "Fuck, I knew it was a bad idea to send her to Victoria's."

"Why?" I asked worried.

"The last guy she was with, James, he was a total creep. He used and he was an alcoholic and I don't know what brought him and Vicky together but he just gave me these vibes. As stupid as that sounds its true."

"You don't think he-," I asked but I couldn't continue, I was too disgusted with what my imagination had come up with.

"I don't know, but you need to go, I'll lock everything up here," he said.

I kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much."

I jinxed it.


	26. Chapter 26

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 26_

_EPOV_

"Come on Edward, sober up, you can do it! Think of the kids, think of Bella," I told myself. Tanya was busying herself pulling off her clothes. I snapped to my senses once again. "Tanya, what the fuck are you doing?" I yelled and rolled out from underneath her.

She got onto her hands and knees crawling towards me. "Edward, I knew it, from the very moment that I met you that we should be together. And now look! Here we are, please come back to bed, baby, please."

My back hit the wall and I looked around for an escape, and rushed to the door. "Edward!" she screamed after me. I ran for the elevator hitting the button as fast as I could. I was three floors below this one. I turned and saw Tanya standing in her doorway no shirt on. "Please don't do this, you don't need to be afraid, just let it happen! Everything will work out fine."

I hit the button harder and thanked God when it finally opened up.

I stepped inside the elevator and let out a huge breath I wasn't aware that I had been holding.

I ran to my room and slammed the door shut behind me. I pulled out my phone and the screen said that I had three missed calls and four new text messages. I called my voicemail and Bella's voice came through the speaker.

"Edward, please, please answer your phone. Something happened and I need you. Vanessa is in some sort of trouble. Your bother has Scotty and I'm on my way to pick up Vanessa right now. Please just call me back when you get this. Its important!"

Her voice was panicked and she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. I pulled out my laptop and sent an email to my boss telling him that I was leaving. I knew he would be pissed and I probably wouldn't be getting a bonus for going on this trip like everyone else, but something happened to my baby. This was also a great excuse to get away from that crazy bitch Tanya.

I packed up my bags and hailed a cab to the airport. Apparently my ticket wasn't valid until the end of next week so I had to buy a new ticket for the redeye back to JFK.

When I was waiting to board I called Bella.

"Edward?" she said into the phone.

"Yeah its me, Bella, what's going on?"

"I can't really explain on the phone, when are you coming home?"

"I just bought a ticket for the next flight out. It leaves at two in the morning so I should be back around five." I told her.

"I'm going to call Emmett and see if he can pick you up." She said and there was a scuffling on the other end of the phone.

"Do you have Vanessa? Is everything okay?" I asked as a voice came onto the speakers saying that my flight was now boarding.

"Yeah I have her,"

I let out a sigh of relief. "I have to go my flight is boarding. I'll be home as soon as I can be."

"Edward, I love you." She whispered.

My heart thumped in my chest and my throat tightened. I loved her too, and I wanted to say it, but I didn't know how. Not after what happened last night. But I couldn't just let what she said linger between us. "I love you too," my voice cracked as I said it and I wanted to kick my ass because of what I let happen tonight.

The line went dead and I boarded the plane. There weren't very many people on the flight so the ride was pretty quiet. I brought out my book and tried to focus on reading but my mind kept drifting into new places. I couldn't help but think the worst had happened to my daughter. Had she been raped, abused anything?

How was I going to tell Bella about what happened tonight? Should I even tell her? It was only a kiss after all. But the guilt was eating me from the inside out. It was only a kiss, nothing even really happened.

Eventually my mind calmed down enough and I was able to fall asleep, even if it was just for an hour. The flight attendant gently shook me awake to let me know that we were getting ready to land in JFK.

When I got off the plane I was numb. My dreams were nightmares in the one-hour of sleep. Bella leaving me and my baby girl lying dead in my arms. I found Emmett in the baggage claim area. He told me that Scotty was at home with Rosalie and the baby. He wouldn't tell me anything about Vanessa but that she was okay.

The ride back to Bella's house was quiet and the air around us seemed awkward. "I told you not to send her to her mothers house." Emmett said angrily.

"What would you have done Emmett? Imagine if you had a teenage daughter who was running around at all hours drinking and partying and doing God knows what else, and they wouldn't listen to you. Grounding them doesn't work because they still sneak out. What would you do?" I snapped back at him.

Emmett's shoulders slumped. "I don't know. I would probably ask Mom and Dad to watch her for a while."

"I didn't really want to get them involved in this. Its not their problem that I cant take care of my own kids."

"They could help."

"I don't know." I said and tugged on my hair.

We pulled up to Bella's house. All the lights were on; they had been up all night.

Bella met us at the door. She threw herself into my arms and her breath came much faster, like she had started crying. "Thank you for coming back so quickly." She kissed my lips then all over my face.

"How is she?" Emmett asked.

"She just fell asleep. So we should be quiet." She said and led us inside. Vanessa was lying on the couch. Her face was red and blotchy with black streaks running down her face from the makeup she was wearing. She looked troubled, a little crease between her brows and her lips were moving like she was talking in her sleep.

"I think I'm going to head home. Rosalie is probably tired from being up all night with Scotty and the baby." Emmett said. "Do you want me to drop him off later or take him over to Mom and Dad's?"

"Take him to Mom and Dad's," I said and he nodded before ducking out the door. I turned to Bella. "What happened?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I picked her up and she was crying too much to talk. When we got back here I was more focused on getting her to breathe normally and not pass out from hyperventilating. She kept whispering 'I'm sorry' then she passed out and you got here."

I fell to my knees in front of her and ran the back of my hand along her cheek. "My baby girl," I murmured.

"Emmett told me about James." She told me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "He did?"

"How could you send her into something like that? An alcoholic and a user, and god knows what else he's into." She had her arms crossed over her chest and stared at me, waiting for an answer. I hadn't seen her so angry before; it kind of scared me.

"I didn't know what to do! We talked about this before she even left!"

Bella grabbed me by the wrist and led me out into the backyard. "Yes and I thought that Victoria and James were clean and on a better path than what Emmett told me! You left those little important bits of information out."

I fell to my knees once more and rested my head on her stomach. "I don't know. I have no clue what I was thinking. I was a stupid asshole. And I am so sorry."

She ran her hand through my hair. "It's not me that you have to apologize to. When Vanessa wakes up you need to beg for forgiveness."

I nodded. "I know."

Bella helped me back to my feet. "Come on, I'll bring out some blankets and you can crash on the loveseat."

When I woke up the next morning my neck and back hurt like hell, but what really got my attention was Vanessa, sitting ramrod straight on the couch. She was staring at the television in front of her, which was turned off. She saw me moving and turned her attention to me. Her face was blank, void of all emotion. I opened my mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come out, so I shut it again. After a little while longer she rose from her place on the couch and walked over to me, throwing herself on me. She burst into tears and we sat there holding onto each other, each of us crying our eyes out for who knows how long.

Eventually Bella came into the room with a plastic bag and a box of tissues. We cleaned ourselves up and we sat there quietly. "What happened?" I asked.

She shook her head. "James. He tried to-," she couldn't say the words and a sob wracked through her body.

I could feel the vomit rise in my throat. The thought of anyone especially that greasy haired, abusing, alcoholic creep touching my daughter made me want to throw up, then murder them. "Did he?"

"No," she whispered. "Mom, she, she found us and she tried to stop him. He hit her. So hard, I heard bones crunch. She told me to run, so I did. I grabbed the most important things I needed, like my wallet and my phone and I ran away. I took a cab but I couldn't afford the whole ride home, so they kicked me out. That's when I called Bella." She turned to me with tears in her eyes. "I don't know what happened to Mom though."

Tears were running down my face, and I clutched Nessie tighter to me. "We are going to find out. We'll call the police and they can deal with that bastard."

She nodded and we held each other for a while longer.

"Daddy," she mumbled. She was half asleep. "I'm sorry, I love you."

"I love you too baby, I always have and I always will. Never, ever forget that."


	27. Chapter 27

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 27_

_VPOV_

A month and one week. Thirty-seven days.

I always thought that living with mom would be different. I thought that my mom would be different. I guess you never really know what you have until its gone. I miss my dad. I miss my brother, I miss Jacob, and I miss my friends. I even miss Bella a little bit.

Turns out my mom lives in Bronx, New York, and not in a nice neighborhood either. She lives in a shit hole apartment where all the other people that live there look like drug addicts and alcoholics, which also sums up how my mom and her husband look.

You could tell that my mom used to be pretty in fact she used to be gorgeous. There are pictures all around of when she was younger, some with Scotty and me. Her hair used to be the prettiest color of red that hung in ringlets framing her face. Her pale skin was perfect, and her blue eyes were the clearest color I had ever seen. She was perfect.

The question that plagued my mind since I got here was: what the hell happened? What made her fall for a guy like James Hunt? Apparently he used to be a boxer, then he was a bartender and now he has no job. My mom supports them by her cleaning job at the local Holiday Inn.

They gave me my own little room. I had the essentials: a bed, a dresser, a mirror and four walls.

James was kind of a creep. My mom was clean but you could tell that he wasn't. I didn't know the kind of drugs he used but he was always angry until he went into his room and got his fix. When he wasn't high he was drunk off his ass. I made a point to be out of the apartment as much as possible and was only home when mom was.

He threatened her and he threatened me too. Why did she stay with him? He wasn't nice, supportive or even remotely attractive. His hair, once blond but now had gray streaks running through it, was long and greasy pulled into a low ponytail. His grey eyes were cold and piercing. One look made me want to take a shower. When mom left the room he would pull me close to him and run his hands up and down my arms and rub his hands on my thighs. He would tell me how pretty I was and how much I looked like my mother.

You know how when you talk about molestation and rape with your friends that you always say that if you were put in that situation you would do this, this and this? You actually cant. You're paralyzed with fear, afraid that they are going to hurt you or someone else that you care about if you don't just sit there and take it.

I texted Jake whenever I could, telling him what was going on. He said that he would try to come and get me, but his father was in the hospital. Billy had a stroke and he needed Jake to take care of him. I didn't want to tell my friends what was happening to me. They wouldn't understand. If I were them I wouldn't understand either. I didn't text my family. I deserved this after everything that I had done. This was my punishment and I was going to ride it out the whole way.

Today was like any other day. I sat in the park all day; I would get a hotdog or a pretzel if I were hungry. When it started to get dark I headed back for the apartment, that was usually the time that mom got home from work; the time that I felt somewhat safe at home.

When I walked in the door James was sitting on the ratty old couch watching television with a beer in his hand. "Where have you been all day?" he slurred, staring at me with those eyes.

"Out," I answered. "Where's mom?" I asked searching the apartment for her.

"She's working the late shift." He said and stood up. "Since you got here everything's gotten more expensive."

"Why don't you just get off your lazy ass and get a job?" I snapped without thinking about it first. My eyes widened when I realized what I had said and I waited for his reaction.

There was a fire in his eyes and he dropped his beer, bringing his hand up. The back of his dirty hand connected with my cheek, the force of the blow knocking me to the ground. I brought my hand to my face rubbing where he had slapped me. "You stupid bitch." He growled. "You better apologize."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"What was that?"

"I'm sorry!" I screamed at him.

His top lip curled up over his teeth and he pulled at the buckle of his pants. "I know how you can make up for it."

Realization hit me as to what he was doing, to what he wanted from me. I started crawling away as fast as I could. "No, please no,"

He dropped to the ground and grabbed my ankle yanking me back to him. My screams echoed through the apartment. He put his forearm down across my throat, cutting off my air. He watched me struggle until I started seeing black in my vision and he started pulling at my shirt and my jeans. "You a virgin?" he asked. I choked in response.

There was a loud bang and screaming throughout the apartment and the pressure on my throat was released. I sucked in as much air as I could, my lungs burning. I saw my moms' scrawny arms beating at James' chest before he shoved her against the wall that cracked from the force. "Run, baby, run," she groaned.

"You filthy cunt!" James screamed at my mother punching her in the face. The bone cracked and tears ran down my face watching the woman who gave me life get hurt in such a way. "Do you think you can really deny me what I want?" I didn't stick around to hear the whole conversation and ran into my room, grabbing my phone, wallet and jacket before booking it out the door.

I ran down the stairs and down the street shoving through the people and ignoring the comments they made and the looks they gave me. I stopped at my usual place in the park, under a big oak tree. I pulled out my phone and tried to call my dad or Bella, but my hands were shaking too much to dial. I walked out to the sidewalk and hailed a cab.

"Where to?" the man asked.

"Westchester,"

The cab drivers eyes met with mine in the rearview mirror and he just shook his head. He had probably seen many crying teenage girls in his day.

I stared out the window as we drove through the town and onto the highway. The numbers on the meter kept getting higher and higher. I pulled out my wallet and looked through my cash. I had fifty dollars. A forty-five minute cab ride was going to cost me well over fifty dollars. We were already approaching thirty and had been driving for fifteen minutes.

"Shit," I mumbled.

The man looked in the rearview mirror and saw me looking through my wallet. "What's the problem?" he asked with a thick New Yorker accent.

"N-nothing." I stuttered, my tears spilling onto my cheeks.

He pulled over to the side of the road. "Listen sweetheart, if you cant pay I'm gunna have to ask you to get out."

"I can pay." I said.

"How much you got?"

"Fifty," I mumbled.

He sighed. "Listen I'll take you to the edge of Westchester, but that's all I can do for you." He said.

"Really?" I asked and looked at him. He nodded. "Why would you do that?"

"I guess I'm just feeling generous." He grumbled and took off down the road, taking a quicker rout.

We pulled off on a street just outside of Westchester and he kicked me out. I sat down on the curb and pulled out my phone. My hands had stopped shaking but my tears were falling freely down my face as sobs wracked through my body and I went to my address book, clicking on Bella's name.

It rang a few times before she answered. "Hello?"

"Bella?"

"Yes?"

"Its N-Nessie." I stuttered and coughed, it was hard to breathe.

"Nessie what's wrong?"

"I don't know what t-to do." I cried. Everything that I had been feeling suddenly hit me like a freight train.

"What happened, where are you?" she asked and I heard a rustling from the other end.

"I- I don't know,"

"Are you at a house, on a street?"

"S-street,"

"Which one?"

I got up and walked to the nearest street sign, reading what it said. "Seventh," I said a little more calm knowing where I was now.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, just stay where you are, don't move. I'm going to get someone to watch Scotty then I will be right there to pick you up." She hung up the phone and I sat waiting for her to come and get me.

About twenty minutes later a car pulled up to the side of the road and I saw Bella step out. Her hair was a mess and she was dressed in her pajamas. I was still sobbing as I ran and I launched myself at her, thankful to finally feel safe in someone's arms.

She didn't say anything other than she was glad that I was all right. Bella held my hand tightly the whole way to her new house. She was fully moved in, but Scotty was nowhere to be seen. His toys were scattered on the living room floor but he wasn't here. "Where's my brother?" I asked.

"He's at Emmett's house. I needed someone to look after him while I came and found you."

I nodded. "Thank you." I said.

"For what?"

"For being there for me." I mumbled and sat on the couch. I looked on the clock that was on the wall and saw that it was nearly midnight now. "Did you call dad?"

She nodded. "Yeah I did, but he didn't answer. He's on a business trip right now. There was some huge medical conference in Miami that he had to go to. Hopefully he will get my messages and come back soon."

"How long is it from Miami to here?"

She sighed and thought. "It's about a three hour direct flight and then another hour to get from JFK to home."

I nodded and lay down on the couch, closing my eyes. Images of James tugging at his belt invaded my thoughts and they snapped open again, the tears returning once more.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" she whispered running her fingers through my hair.

I shook my head and grabbed a tissue, wiping away my tears. She turned on the television and we watched movies until finally my eyes shut of their own accord and I fell asleep. But my sleep was plagued with images of what could have happened if my mother hadn't come home in time. Thoughts of what happened to her because I left and didn't tell anyone what happened.

I woke the next morning and saw my dad sleeping on the tiny little loveseat. His six two figure crammed into the seat lengthwise. I turned my gaze to the blank television in front of me. I was going to cry again, I could feel it. The tingle in my nose and the tightening of my throat. These were the signs that I was going to start crying once more.

I felt his eyes on me so I turned to look at my father. He opened his mouth, as if to say something before he shut it again. I got up from my seat and walked over to him before throwing myself on top of him. He held me tight against his body. Safety, comfort, acceptance and love; everything that someone should feel when being held by their father.

We both cried in each other's arms for a while, just enjoying the comfort of being together again. At some point Bella came into the room with a plastic bag and a box of tissues. We wiped away our tears and blew our noses. "What happened?" he asked.

I shook my head, the images flashing in front of my eyes. "James. He tried to-," I couldn't say the words. That just made it real again.

"Did he?"

"No," I whispered. "Mom, she, she found us and she tried to stop him. He hit her. So hard, I heard bones crunch. She told me to run, so I did. I grabbed the most important things I needed, like my wallet and my phone and I ran away. I took a cab but I couldn't afford the whole ride home, so they kicked me out. That's when I called Bella." I looked at him, my sobs stopping but fresh tears fill my eyes. "I don't know what happened to Mom though."

My father was crying with me, something I had never seen him do before. "We are going to find out. We'll call the police and they can deal with that bastard."

I nodded and the same silence as before fell over us again and we just sat there holding onto each other for dear life.

"Daddy," a wave of lethargy crashed over me. "I'm sorry, I love you."

"I love you too baby, I always have and I always will. Never, ever forget that."


	28. Chapter 28

_**She's All That**_

* * *

_Chapter 28_

_EPOV_

That night while I was trying to coax Vanessa into eating something there was a phone call. I set down the bowl of soup and crackers on her bedside table and ran downstairs just in time to catch whoever was calling.

"Hello?" I asked breathlessly.

"Mr. Cullen?" a woman answered. She sounded remorseful and I wondered what was going on.

"Yes, may I ask who's calling?"

"This is NYPD. We got your call earlier and sent a squad car down to the address that you left. We need you to come down to the station as soon as possible." She said.

I was silent. She was dead wasn't she? My ex-wife, the woman who gave birth to my children, who shared their DNA, was dead. Why else would they call me down there? "Uh, sure, I'll be there soon."

I sat down in one of the chairs in the kitchen and rested my head in my hands. I thought about all the times that Victoria and I had together. They weren't all bad. It was just after we got married that things started to go downhill.

I had met Victoria when we were freshmen in college. I was eighteen and she was nineteen. We were young and naïve, but I think that we really were in love. I could remember the very first night that we met like it was yesterday. She was so beautiful.

October 22, 1996

I looked around the house, not really sure what I was supposed to do. I wasn't rushing, but all the rush-ees were cleaning the house. I felt a hand go to my shoulder. "Well little brother, what do you think of Frat life?"

I looked up to Emmett, my burly brother who was two years older than me. He was studying to become a businessman. Yeah that shocks me too, my brother looks like a football player, but hey, whatever makes him happy. I on the other hand was going for pre-med to become a doctor just like our father. "Doesn't really look like my kind of thing." I muttered.

"That's only the first year. After that you become an official brother and everything is a breeze. It's like high school but with hotter girls and more booze." He said plopping down on the couch.

"Yeah because high school was the greatest time of my life." I grumbled sitting next to him.

He nudged my shoulder. "Come on, the summer after your sophomore year, things started looking up."

I rolled my eyes. There was a knock on the door and Emmett got up to answer it. "Why hello there pledge ladies," I heard him say in his most charming voice. They all giggled out their hellos and I heard them all step inside.

I could see them from where I was sitting. They were all beautiful young women, with blonde and brown hair that was styled into different fashions, except for one. The one girl that really caught my eye was different than the rest; she was shorter and had a shock of flaming red hair that fell in ringlets past her shoulders. She had the most flawless skin and her eyes were so blue, they could have had ocean waves crashing through them. Her eyes locked with mine and she smiled at me. I thought my world had burst when she did that. They were all wearing nametags and I adjusted in my seat so that I could see hers.

Victoria.

I didn't know what they were talking about; I just stared at her like she was the only person left in the world, until they all shuffled out.

Emmett came and sat down next to me again. "Oh how I love sorority girls." When I didn't respond he shook my arm. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

"Victoria," I murmured.

"The hot ginger?" I wanted to punch him for saying that. He laughed at me. "You like her don't you?" I nodded. "We are having a mixer with them tonight. They were coming over to remind us. I could sneak you in and you could get to know her a little better." He said with a nudge.

"You could do that?"

"For my little brother," he said. "Hell yeah!"

I jumped up from my seat. "What time should I be here? What should I wear?" I asked quickly and began pacing, running my hand through my hair.

Emmett laughed even harder. "Chill bro! Just be here at seven and wear a nice shirt, if you have one."

I nodded at him and ran out the door and to my dorm. I rummaged through my closet looking for a nice button down shirt that I could wear that would make me look good. I couldn't find anything. The only one I could find was a white and purple striped one that my grandmother had gotten me. I didn't remember putting that in my bag when I packed for college. Mother…

I walked down the hall and pounded on my friend Jaspers door. He opened it and poked his head out. "What do you want?" he asked. It was four in the afternoon and he looked like I had just woken him up.

"I need to borrow a shirt."

"What kind of shirt?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"A nice one, button down preferably." I said.

He waved me in and I stepped into the dirty room. The placed reeked of pot and dirty clothes. "You need to open up a window or something man. This place smells like ass." I said stepping over the piles of the clothes.

"Shut up, I haven't had time to clean."

"Right."

He opened up his tiny closet for me and gestured for me to look and pick something out. I opted for a nice black button down and pulled it on to see if it would fit. I grinned when it did and left giving Jasper a pat on the back.

I took a quick shower, thankful that there weren't a ton of people in there. I always found it awkward showering with a bunch of other naked men around. I got out and toweled off, changing into my outfit for tonight. I've become gay, 'my outfit for tonight?' what the fuck?

I tried to tame my hair but as usual nothing came of that and I gave up. I put on some cologne just to set off my look. It was five thirty now so I had just enough time to grab something to eat. I was so nervous about Victoria that I couldn't eat. I went to the on campus coffee shop and sat there just thinking. What if she already had a boyfriend, what if she was just looking for a one-night stand? Could I do that? I think I could but I think I also wanted more.

When six thirty rolled around I got up and walked slowly towards the frat house. There was loud music coming from inside and lots of yelling. I stepped inside, unsure of myself now that everyone was back and out of their rooms. I found Emmett and he pulled me in for a "bro hug". "You clean up nice little brother!" he complimented.

"Thanks. So what's going on?" I asked.

"Well as you can see we are all getting ready to head over to the house now and we are gunna leave in five minutes."

Shit, five minutes to think of a way to talk to her. Do I go the casual approach? Compliment her? Try to be all suave and cool like every other frat boy? What if someone else gets to her first? If that happens I'll just leave. No big deal. I don't know her; I don't know why I should be worried about it.

Soon enough everyone was filing out the door and was walking down Greek Row to whatever sorority we were going to. There was a huge banner outside welcoming us, and I almost felt like I was intruding by going and not be a brother. There were tables full of food and drinks with multicolored lights hanging from the ceiling. I grabbed a red plastic cup that was filled with beer and chugged it down and then grabbed another one.

A little bit of liquid courage never hurt right?

I scoured the rooms looking for Victoria and I couldn't find her anywhere. I was getting a little bummed out and went in search of a bathroom. All the ones downstairs were occupied so I slowly ascended the stairs and began looking again. I didn't see where I was going until I bumped into someone.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" she said.

I steadied her against me and when I looked down I saw the beautiful red locks of hair that I had been admiring before.

"It's fine," I said with a smile and she pulled away, but she didn't leave the confines of my arms. I felt awkward for holding her there so I dropped my arms and stepped back. "I'm Edward," I said and held out my hand. I felt like such a dumbass.

She smiled at me, a genuine smile, not one of those fake ones. "Victoria," she said and shook my hand. Hers was so soft and so small compared to mine. I probably held on far too long until I let go.

"I know." I blurted and she looked at me questioningly. I woke up from whatever haze I was in and realized what I had said. "I saw your name tag this afternoon."

She laughed. "I kind of figured."

I smiled so wide that I thought my face would break. "Uh, do you want to go somewhere to talk?"

She smiled, "Sure, I think there isn't anyone in my friends bedroom right now,"

She grabbed me by the hand and led me into a room that was painted light purple with flowers all over. We sat on the bed and started talking about anything and everything. She was an art major; apparently she wanted to be a painter. I made her promise to show me some of her paintings sometime and she delightfully agreed.

We made a date for the next night to meet up at the bar just off campus. I went back to my dorm after the party was over and lay there in bed, completely and utterly overcome with bliss.

Finally pulling out of my thoughts I realized that I had started crying. As much as I wanted to hate Victoria, I couldn't. I hated what she did to our family, the way she ripped us apart, leaving a gaping hole that was never fixed, no matter how hard I tried. She was the root of the problem between Vanessa and I, but she did give me my two wonderful children. If there was anything good that came out of my relationship with Victoria it was Vanessa and Scotty. Nothing could compare to the love that I held for those two. Everything that was once good in Vicky was embodied in them.

I took Scotty and Vanessa over to my parents. My mother sat me down on the couch and held me while my father was in the kitchen with my kids. I was thirty-three years old and crying in my mother's arms like I was three. It was hard to believe that there was a chance that she could be dead.

The next stop was Bella's house. I rang the doorbell and waited for her to answer. "Edward," she breathed. "Is everything okay?"

"Can I come in?"

"Absolutely."

We sat down at her kitchen table and I told her what happened earlier today, that the police called saying that they had been to Vicky's apartment. Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes were wide with shock.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked once the initial shock went away.

I nodded. "If you don't mind. I'd feel a lot better with you there."

I didn't trust myself to drive anymore, the shock was beginning to seep through my resolve faster and faster, so Bella drove us down to the station. When we got there Bella spoke to the person at the front desk. We were directed into an interview room and we sat there for a while, waiting for the detectives to come in. Bella rubbed soothing circles on my back as we waited.

The door opened and burly man and tall lanky woman walked in, one carrying a folder. They sat down in the chairs opposite us. "Mr. Cullen?" the woman asked. "I'm Detective Morgan and this is Detective Quinn. We are the detectives assigned to your ex wife's case." I nodded. "When we arrived at the apartment Victoria Hunt had been dead for several hours." I gripped the leg of the table tightly in an effort to keep my emotions in check. "She appeared to have been beaten to death. Do you have any idea who might have done this?"

I nodded. "My daughter was there, she saw the whole thing. Her husband, James Hunt, the sick fuck, tried to rape my daughter. Victoria walked in and she tried to stop it but James attacked her. My daughter got away. She is at her grandparents house right now."

Detective Morgan looked at me sympathetically. "We are going to need her statement, do you think you could bring her down to the station sometime soon? We are going to do everything in our power to bring that asshole in, don't worry."

I nodded. "Is that all?"

"Yes, Mr. Cullen, thank you for your time," Detective Quinn said and led us back out to the front area of the station. "We hope to hear from you soon."

I was silent the whole ride home and Bella led me into my bedroom. I collapsed onto the bed and sighed. "Why is life so fucking complicated?"

Bella ran a hand through my hair and I leaned into her. "That's just how life is."

"Please, don't go. Stay with me tonight."

She nodded and we changed for bed. It was nearly ten o'clock now. I had dropped the kids off around seven thirty and had gotten to the station around eight fifteen. We curled up in bed facing each other, resting our foreheads against one another. I could feel her warm breath on me and I relished the feeling of having her near me.

"I love you," I whispered to her.

"I love you too," she mumbled before we both succumbed to sleep.


	29. Chapter 29

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 29_

_EPOV_

It didn't take the police very long to apprehend James. They found him wandering the streets, very drunk. He was taken into custody and we had to make a court appearance on August thirtieth so that Vanessa could testify against him, something she was more than glad to do.

We had buried Victoria earlier in the week, but it had only been Vanessa and I. Not even a priest was there.

I tried to sit Scotty down and tell him that his mother had died. He looked at me confused and said that Bella was in the kitchen making lunch for everyone. I let that one go, figuring that when he was ready to talk about Victoria that he would ask. It did make me happy to hear that he thought of Bella as his mother, as I planned on one day asking her to marry me. Not now of course, but hopefully within the next year.

Bella had been staying with us for the past week or so. With the mental state that I had been in and Vanessa too, we needed someone to take care of Scotty. I decided that I should go back to work this week so I readied all the stuff that I would need for today. Bella was downstairs making breakfast with Scotty.

I set down my briefcase by my chair and sat down with my cup of coffee as Bella put down a hearty breakfast of pancakes with bacon in front of me before sitting down herself.

"You don't have to go in you know. I'm sure that they understand just fine what you have been going through." She said taking in a big bite.

I smiled a little at the way that she was eating and then sighed. "Yes I do. I need to get back into my old routine to get my mind off things. Besides I need to put in some hours before I take off for another day at the end of the month for court."

"Well then at least do a half day." She argued.

I shook my head and ate my breakfast. I gave her a quick kiss before I left and heard an "ewe" from the table. Scotty was staring at us with the funniest facial expression I had seen on him since he tried brussel sprouts. Bella left me and dropped down to my son giving him a big wet kiss on the cheek. He scrunched up his nose in disgust and Bella said one last goodbye to me before I left.

Walking into the hospital I was met with waves and sympathetic smiles. I settled down in my office and groaned. I didn't have any appointments today but I had a lot of paperwork that I needed to do. It probably could have been done at home, but still, I needed out of the house. There was a knock on my door a few hours into the day. "It's open," I called out, and then cringed when I thought that it could be Tanya.

I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't. Instead, it was Angela Webber, one of the nicer nurses here at the office. She wasn't one to gossip like the rest of them. "Hello Edward," she said.

"Hey Angie, how can I help you today?" I asked gesturing for her to sit.

She shook her head. "I just wanted to come in and say hi, we haven't seen you in a while. And I heard about what happened with your ex wife and your daughter. I'm so sorry that you had to go through that." I nodded. "But another thing, on a much happier note, do you remember Ben, the guy I was telling you about a while ago?"

I nodded; she had begun dating a guy named Ben Cheney in December of last year. We would eat lunch together in the staff lounge and she would tell me all about their dates and things like that.

"Well, he proposed to me last week and we are having an engagement party at our house this weekend. I would love it if you could come, since you are the one that I really talked to about him all the time. And I'm sorry for that too. I'm sure that you never really cared all that much about our relationship." She said.

I laughed. "That's wonderful. I'm so happy for you. And I think I would be able to make it this weekend. And don't even worry about it. My lack of social life was lived through yours and Ben's relationship. I can't wait to meet him."

She beamed at me and stood up. "Oh, if you want to, you can bring Bella."

I nodded. "I think I will. Congratulations!"

She left the office and I texted Bella letting her know about the plans that we now had for the weekend.

I made careful work to request the nurses to not send Tanya to me at all during the day and did my best to sneak around where she would not be. I didn't even eat lunch today so that I wouldn't have to see her in the staff lounge.

I still hadn't told Bella about the night that I came home. I felt like such a dumbass, and a little pansy for getting so worked up about not have talked to her in three days. It shouldn't matter that much since it was just three days. I felt so stupid for falling into Tanya's little plan too. I knew there was something wrong with her. I knew it on that first date, and yet at the bar I led her on and then she tried to… ugh, I don't even want to think about it. I guess Nessie and I went through sort of the same situation. Not to such an extreme measure but still.

VPOV

I had given my statement to the police a few days ago. I felt like I was in Law and Order; the whole thing was very surreal.

Now I was staring at myself in the mirror of my bathroom. After my experience I felt different almost like a new person. I felt scarred but I also felt newer and stronger. With this new feeling I felt like I needed a change.

I tugged at the ends of my hair. I wondered what it would look like short. I had always worn it long, like my mother had in all her pictures.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and propped myself up onto the counter. I dialed the number that I had been itching to for a while.

"Hey baby," he answered.

I smiled at the sound of Jacob's voice. "Hey, are you busy?"

"I was just about to get off work, why what's up?" he asked.

I took a deep breath. I knew that Jake loved me, but I wondered what he would think of what I wanted to do. "I want to do something, but I really need you there with me." I said.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to cut my hair." I said.

He paused. "Don't you do that by yourself all the time? Why do you need me?" he didn't give me time to answer before he spoke again. "I'm going to come over and we can talk okay?"

"Alright,"

"I love you," he said and hung up the phone.

I walked down the stairs and found Bella sitting in the living room on her laptop with the television on in the background. I sat down next to her and waited for her to look up from what she was doing. "Hey Vanessa, is everything okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, everything is fine. Jake is coming over so that we can talk."

She must have picked up something in my voice. "What are you planning on talking about?"

I began tugging on the ends of my hair again. "Well, I've been doing some thinking and I feel like I need a change of something in my life. I have always worn my hair long and I want to cut it. I want all of it gone."

She put down her computer. "Are you sure? Do you want it as short as Alice's or longer?"

"Definitely longer, probably above my shoulders."

"Vanessa, that is a lot of hair." She said and I nodded. "It takes time for it to grow back out. What if you don't like it? You wont be able to change it."

"Well then I am just going to have to risk it." She stared at me a moment longer and then sighed when there was a knock on the door.

I jumped up to open it and Jacob pulled me into a hug and kissed me on the nose. "Hi," I said with a smile.

He grinned back and we walked into the family room where Bella still sat silent on the couch. I sat next to Bella and he sat in the recliner. "So what exactly do you want to do with your hair?" he asked.

"I want to cut all of it off."

"All of it?" he squeaked out.

I rolled my eyes. "Not all of it of course, but to at least just above my shoulders."

He let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair causing to it fall back. "If you want it, then I say go for it."

"You know my opinion." Bella said. "Are you going to talk to your father at all about this or are you just going to do it?"

I hadn't even thought about what my dad would say. It's my hair and he doesn't have a say over what I do with my hair. It will grow back out at some point. "I love my dad, but I want to do this on my own. Thanks for your opinion Bella, but this something I need to do."

"Alright," she sighed and pulled her computer back onto her lap, continuing whatever she was doing earlier.

"Can we go now?" I asked Jacob.

He nodded and we walked out to his car, grabbing my purse in the entry hall.

The ride there was silent until at a red light Jacob spoke. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?"

He shrugged looking at me, studying me. "You have just been different since you got back. I mean I know you have reason to since what happened, but I don't know, I guess I expected you to be all shelled up because of what happened. With what happened with James and then your mom dying, I just thought you wouldn't be like you are now."

I looked out the window. "I was like that for a while. I didn't want anyone around. I didn't want to deal with it, but burying my mom kind of did it for me. That was my closure. She died saving me. She gave me life. But we did have a lot of problems and I am done dwelling on the past. It was by being so focused on the past that I was so pissed off with my dad and Bella. I didn't want a mother, but I did. I wanted my mom. But I didn't want my mom. I guess having her around for one last time was what settled everything. I realize now how lonely my dad has been since my mom. He had probably been on two dates since he and my mom split. I'm happy for my dad and what he has with Bella. He definitely deserves it after dealing with all my bullshit." I said and tears filled my eyes. "As for the James thing, I know that he is going to be locked away for a long time. He is going to get busted for not only killing my mom but also possession. I know that he can't ever touch me again. I have my dad and my uncles to protect me."

"You have me too," he said and grabbed my hand squeezing it tight.

My heart swelled hearing that and I wanted to burst. "Really? Even if I do cut off all my hair and change a bit because of these experiences?"

He nodded. "Of course. I love you, nothing is going to change that."

"I love you too."

"You know, I was thinking." He said.

"Don't hurt yourself," I joked.

He laughed and kissed my hand. "I'm going to be a senior next year, and you are going to be a junior. What if you became a senior too and then graduated with my class? We could start at NYU together in the fall."

I was shocked. Was he really thinking about this? For how long had he been thinking about it? "I think that sounds amazing."

When we pulled into the parking lot and into a spot I climbed over the center console straddling Jake. I was careful not to hit the horn. "How long have you been thinking about this?"

"Since I looked at my first scholarship application in May." He groaned. I placed my hands on either side of his face and brought our lips together.

I pulled away quickly and pulled the handle of the door, opening it so I could get out.

He followed me out and grabbed my hand. I walked into the salon that I always went to. The receptionist smiled at me and I asked for Nicole. She popped out from behind a corner and pulled me into a hug. "Hey sweets!" she said with a slight jersey accent and popping her gum.

"Hi Nicole, this is my boyfriend Jacob." She eyed him up and down and winked at me.

"Did you come all the way over here just to introduce me to muscles over here or what?" she asked.

I laughed. "No actually, I was wondering if you had any free times right now? I want to try something."

"Hair related right?" she asked glancing between Jake and me.

I nodded. "Yes, I want to cut it. All of it."

Her eyes widened. "You sure?"

"Yes."

She pulled me over to her chair and sat me down. "Now I think that with your face shape we shouldn't do a bob. What do you think of maybe to about here," she said gesturing to my collarbone, "With a lot of layers and maybe some sweeping bangs?"

"Do what you think would look good." I said and she turned to Jake.

"What do you think Muscles?" she asked.

He smiled at the nickname she had given him. "I'm just here for moral support. I think it sounds great."

She patted his cheek. "Well aren't you sweet." Nicole brought me to the back to wash my hair and then we were back at the chair. She parted my hair and started working her magic. It was a good hour and a half later until we were finished with the cut. She kept me turned away from the mirror so that I couldn't see what she was doing until she finished. She blow-dried and styled before pulling Jake over. "What do you think?" Nicole asked proudly.

"Wow, that's really different." He said shocked. I glared at him. "In a good way!" he said quickly.

Nicole clapped her manicured nails together and spun my chair around. My jaw dropped at what I saw before me. It was so short and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from me, and not just figuratively either. I stood up and wrapped my arms around Nicole. I couldn't believe how amazing it looked. I loved it.

I asked her how much for the cut but she just waved me off. As we walked out of the shop I looked to Jake. "What do you think?" I asked pawing at my hair.

"I like it. It's different, but I think I just need time to get used to it." He replied. "Do you like it?"

I nodded. "I love it."

"Then that's all that matters."


	30. Chapter 30

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 30_

_EPOV_

The past week had been a very trying one. It took me what seemed like decades trying to focus on getting back into the groove of work and playing catch-up. For the first time since high school I was excited for the weekend. I found out that our court date was going to be sometime next month, when the kids started school again. I pleaded with the woman on the phone to change the date to sometime before school ended, but she was tougher than a rock and wouldn't budge on the date.

When I came home on Monday and saw Vanessa had cut off all her hair I almost burst into tears. I wanted to. After all that we went through I had been so emotionally overloaded that I just wanted to sleep for the next year. But, I held it in. When she explained to me why she did it I clutched her to me and wouldn't let go. She hugged me back for a while until she got bored with my fatherly love and she just sat there letting me hold her.

Jacob had been over every other night for dinner, so I had gotten to know him a little better. At first I wanted to kick his ass and throw him out of my house, but Bella sat me down and had a little chat with me. Turns out, Jacob really isn't a bad kid. Their friends on the other hands were still on my shit list. He has gone through a lot, just like we have. He lost his mother and he has to work to support his father and himself. He has always been there for my baby girl and I prayed to god he always would be. I felt like there was something that him and Nessie weren't telling me but I knew that they would eventually.

Currently Bella was in the bathroom readying herself for Angela and Ben's engagement party. I was sitting on the bed buttoning up my nice red dress shirt. Bella came out dark skinny jeans and a one shoulder cascading top with rays of sequins on the front showing off her pale skin. Her hair fell in waves and her makeup was light, proving how naturally beautiful she is.

She caught me staring at her as she slipped on a pair of black high-heeled suede ankle boots with a peep toe and ruffles on the front. "Something catch your eye?"

"Just my beautiful girlfriend." I said and kissed her nose. She was four inches taller in her shoes but I was six two and she is five two.

She grumbled walking out of the room that even with high heels she was a midget. I beg to differ. Alice is five foot.

I chuckled and followed her downstairs where Scotty, Nessie and Jake were watching television together. "You guys look nice." My daughter commented as we entered the room.

"Thanks, now you guys know the rules right? I am trusting you two," I said gesturing to Nessie and Jake, "to not pull the same stunt as last time. I don't want to come home tonight and find what I found last time."

"We know," Vanessa said exasperatedly. When she had asked if Jake could come over tonight and help her baby-sit her brother I flipped out. But everyone deserves second chances and so far Jacob has been on my good side. I had a good hour-long talk with Vanessa about responsibility this afternoon.

Jacob nodded quickly. I talked with him too, and explained in great detail what would happen to him if he tried anything. He crossed his legs in the chair he was sitting in and put his hands protectively over his lap. I felt as though my point had come across nicely.

"We shouldn't be out too late, but we have our phones if you need us." I said and Bella and I left.

I ran my hand through my hair when we pulled out of the driveway. "It's going to be fine Edward," Bella said reassuringly.

"I have a hard time trusting Vanessa and Jake together alone. After last time…" I said.

She laughed and I raised my eyebrow. "Sorry, its just so like teenagers to do that. But I feel like Vanessa has grown up a lot in the past few weeks. She understands responsibility and Jake seems like a genuinely nice guy, if a little forward at times."

I looked at her questioningly. He had never once been forward around me at dinner or during the day. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing." She said quickly.

"Bella," I pushed.

She shrugged. "That night when you walked in on the two of them and you were talking with Vanessa, Jacob came down and I was down there too. He made it very clear that he thought I was attractive."

My hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel and I wanted to turn the car around and kill that kid. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Bella sighed softly. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal. He is just a teenage boy."

"Has he done it again?"

"No he hasn't, he has been very doting on Vanessa. I think its sweet."

I relaxed a little. But then a wave of guilt hit me like a tsunami. Bella just told me something that she had kept from me. I had something that I was keeping from her, and I still haven't told her. My secret is so much worse than hers, and the fact that I have kept it from her… I don't know if she will ever forgive me.

We pulled onto the street where Angela and Ben lived together and saw that the streets were already packed with cars. We had to park far away from the house and I felt bad about having Bella walk in the shoes she was wearing. She told me that she was used to them from her book tours and that they were actually pretty comfortable.

There weren't a lot of people at the party, maybe fifteen or twenty people. When we entered we stood there and looked around. A few people waved when they saw me enter, people who I worked with at the hospital. Everyone had a drink in his or her hand, whether it is wine, scotch or a margarita. I had my eye on the scotch though.

Angela saw us standing near the entryway and grabbed a man who was in the middle of a conversation with someone and walked up to us. "Hi Edward," she said pulling me into a hug. She looked at Bella and smiled warmly. "You must be Bella. I'm Angela, it's so nice to meet you!"

"You as well." Bella replied back with a smile. I had a feeling she would like Angela.

"Thank you both so much for coming. We really appreciate it." Angela said and wrapped her arms around the man who I assumed was Ben. He was about two inches shorter than I with brown hair that was neatly parted. He wore glasses and looked like someone you would expect to find behind the counter at geek squad.

He smiled. "Hey man, nice to meet you," he said reaching out for a handshake.

"You too," I said with a grin and he grabbed my hand giving it a firm shake. You can tell a lot about a man by his handshake. So far, I approved.

"Come on in, there are drinks in the kitchen and snacks too. We are going to have a cake later if you want to stay," Ben said and gestured for us to come inside.

We went straight to the kitchen for drinks. I poured myself a scotch and Bella grabbed a glass of wine. We sat down on the swing on the back porch where others were mingling as well.

A few people came to talk to us, and everyone seemed to like Bella. This was the most social interaction I had had with my coworkers in a long time. After a while I stopped going to all the staff parties. They just didn't seem like fun anymore. Some people seemed genuinely surprised to see me out and about, and with my hot new girlfriend.

"This is nice," Bella said and rested her head on my shoulder.

"It is. I like being able to do this with you." I said holding her close to me. I swirled the last bit of scotch around in my glass before throwing it back. "I'm going to get some more. Do you want a refill or anything?"

Bella shook her head. "I'm driving home I take it?" she said with a smile. I grinned cheekily at her. "I'm fine, you go ahead."

BPOV

Edward left and I sat there for a moment wondering what I should do. I felt strange sitting there by myself so I got up and wandered the yard. Towards the corner of the large landscape there was a pond that looked like it had Koi fish in it. I stared down at the fish when I heard someone come stand next to me. I expected Edward but when I looked up it was the woman I had met in the elevator when we were on our way to see Rosalie at the hospital with her baby.

"Hi," I said, "I think we met in the elevator one time at the hospital?" It came out more as a question.

She looked at me confused. Her strawberry blonde hair was half up with her bangs down and she wore a blue cotton dress with slits in the shoulders. "Oh yes I remember! You were going to the maternity ward." I nodded. "Who are you here with?" she asked.

"Edward Cullen? He's a pediatric doctor."

She laughed. "I know I'm one of his nurses."

"Oh," I said lamely. "So you know him pretty well then."

"You could say that." She said as though she had a secret she wanted to tell. "You must be Bella then if you are here with Edward." I nodded. "Edward told me all about you in Miami."

"He did?"

"Oh yeah. We got to know each other really well in Miami." She said with that same tone of voice she used earlier. "I heard about what happened. So that was why he had to leave the trip early?"

"Yeah. We are pushing through it, but it's still really hard on him and Vanessa. Scotty is just kind of oblivious to the whole situation." I said.

"That sweet little boy shouldn't be burdened with all that." She said.

"No kidding."

She turned around and waved at someone behind us. She had a sly smile on her face. She turned around to face me. "We should go on a walk."

"I don't even know your name."

"Tanya," she said. "Besides I have good stories to tell you about Edward at work."

I looked around but couldn't find Edward. I assumed he was inside talking to someone. "Alright," I said reluctantly.

She looped her arm through mine and we walked around the house to the front where we walked down the sidewalk. She began with all these tales about Edward doing all these amazing things at work. We were getting along really well, and I was beginning to think that maybe we could be friends. "But I think the best story that I have about Edward was when we were in Miami on that business trip." She began.

"I hardly talked to Edward when he was gone for those three days. I was working on finishing off my next book."

She laughed. "Yeah he said that he missed you, a lot. You have no idea how much he missed you. When he couldn't get a hold of you he kind of freaked out. I met him at a bar a few blocks from the bar. He got so hammered. He told me everything that was going on in his personal life. So I told him what was happening with mine. We started reminiscing about the date that we went on a little while ago and we danced. Before long he had me up in my hotel room and he was practically ripping my clothes off of me."

I stopped dead in my tracks. "What?" I whispered.

"Did you not hear me? I said he was ripping the clothes off my body. Then he started kissing me, god, isn't he such an amazing kisser? Even drunk he was the best I ever had." She said with a wink. "He is just so massive and the things he can do with that tongue and those fingers of his. If finger fucking and eating a girl out were in the Olympics he would win the gold."

I pulled my arm away from hers and backed away from her. "What are you talking about?"

"What happened in Miami. Did you not want to talk about that? Sorry, must have had too much to drink! I get a little talkative with too much alcohol." She said and walked back up the street.

I sat down on the sidewalk and stared at the ground below me. It took a while to realize that the ground was wet because of my tears. I heard footsteps hitting the ground hard and looked up. Edward was running towards me. "Bella, are you okay? What did Tanya tell you?"

That finalized it. "Take me home," I said hoarsely standing up.

"Bella, please, tell me what she told you."

"Take me home!" I yelled at him.

He jumped at my suddenness, but nodded and walked back to the car ahead of me. The car ride back to my house was quiet. I could see Edward turn to look at me from the corner of my eye, but I paid no attention to him. He didn't deserve my attention.

When he pulled up to the curb outside my home, I got out without a glance or word to him. He had his hands locked on the steering wheel and his head down. I stared down at his car from my bedroom window. He didn't leave for twenty minutes, but he never changed position. Finally, like he had been awoken, he drove away.

That night and the next few days I cried. I cried like I had never cried before in my life. I was wondering when I would run out of tears, but I never did. I was angrier than anything else.

Was it even true what Tanya said? Edward had never mentioned Tanya before. Why wouldn't he tell me? Didn't he trust me enough to talk to me about anything? He told me he loved me when he got back from Miami. What that a lie too?

I didn't want it to be. I loved Edward. I still love Edward and I want him to love me too.

Edward didn't try to call me or come see me, something that made me angry but also relieved. I didn't want to have to deal with him. I didn't want to see that perfect face that lied to me.

Two weeks later I received a letter. It was in a handwriting that I knew very well.

_Bella, _

_I know that you don't want to see me, or talk to me and I respect that. That's why I haven't tried to contact you. But I needed to get my side of the story out. I don't know what Tanya told you, but it's time you should know the truth. _

_A few months ago, before you and I met, I asked Tanya out on a date. She seemed like a genuine person. During that date, she seemed a little off. I didn't call her the next day and she stalked me for months at work, probably outside of work too. Eventually I thought she had gotten the hint, because she left me alone. Evidently not. _

_When I went to Miami, I missed you like crazy, and it killed me when I couldn't get in touch with you. I went to the bar and had a few drinks. Tanya showed up and she seemed depressed. We ordered a few more drinks and she told me what was wrong. She was having problems in her relationship and had recently broken up with her boyfriend, but now that I think about it that was probably made up. I tried to help her out and in my drunken state of mind I asked her to dance. I broke down and told her what was happening with Vanessa. How I sent her away and all that. _

_I told her I was sorry about how I acted after our date, that I was wrong about her and she was actually a great person. She brought me back to her hotel room and we talked for a bit, but then she attacked me. I blacked out for a moment until I came back to reality. _

_Tanya was on top of me, half naked. I sobered up enough to get out and away from her as fast as I could. She told me all these things about how she knew we were perfect for each other, but I made it back to my room. _

_Then I got your call. I came home immediately after that. _

_All that happened was a kiss. A drunken accidental kiss. _

_I know this doesn't make up for not telling you. I know you probably never want to see me again, but I just needed you to know the truth of what happened. _

_I love you Bella that is not a lie. It never has and it never will be. _

_Yours truly and honestly,_

_Edward_


	31. Chapter 31

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 31_

_BPOV_

I held the letter in one hand and a lighter in the other over the kitchen sink. I didn't know what to believe. Edward has never given me any reason to doubt him before, but on the switch side, who's to say that this won't be the last time either?

I sighed and set the lighter down on the counter. I didn't know what to do. I thought about calling Emmett, seeing if he knew something about this Tanya woman. But then, Emmett would tell Edward and Edward would know that I was thinking about him. I didn't want that. I wanted Edward to know that I wasn't just some girl that he could send a sweet letter to and then everything would be all better. I wanted Edward to know that I was the kind of woman that stood up for herself and did things her way.

But I had to know the truth. I grabbed my purse and my keys and headed out the door on a mission.

I pulled into the driveway and saw Emmett from the window walking around bouncing the baby, who looked like he was being a little fussy.

I knocked on the door and Emmett opened it. He looked like he hadn't slept for days. Which judging by the screaming baby he held in his arms he probably hadn't. "Hey Bella," he said tiredly.

"Hey Emmett, do you want to go on a walk? I need to talk to you and I think it might settle little Jace down."

"Uh, yeah sure. Let me tell Rosie." He walked out of my view for a few minutes and came back holding Jace in one hand a Baby Bjorn in the other hand. When he finally got it strapped on he looked a little ridiculous and under other circumstances he would probably joke about it, but he looked as though he was going to pass out at any given second.

We were silent for a little while until Emmett spoke. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Jace had begun to settle down and I could see the relief on Emmett's face. "I was wondering if you knew about anyone from Edward's work named Tanya."

He thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I remember Edward mention a Tanya one night when we went out for drinks, but that was a long time ago."

I nodded. "They went out on a date?" I prompted him.

That seemed to jog his memory. "Oh yeah." He laughed. "Damn, she sounded crazy. She would stalk him around the hospital until he asked her out and then she was like herpes to him after that."

"What an eloquent way of putting things." I said wrinkling my nose.

"I haven't slept for two days. I'm not exactly in the right state of mind right now. But why are you asking me about her? Why not just talk to Edward? He would be more than willing to tell you about her I bet."

I took a deep breath. "I can't really talk to Edward right now."

"Why? And what does Tanya have to do with it?"

"Uh, about two weeks ago Edward and I went to a party for a friend of his and I met Tanya. She told me this elaborate story about a night that they spent together in Miami. The same night that Edward told me that he loved me. And Edward never told me about her or about anything that happened in Miami. He sent me a letter explaining everything, but I didn't know if I could trust what he says."

Emmett shook his head and he looked disappointed. I guess you could say it was his inner father coming out on his brother. "He was always such a pansy. I'm not saying you should forgive him right away, but if I know my brother, I think that you should go talk to him."

I groaned. "If he had just told me what happened, none of this would have happened! Everything would be fine."

"Hey, you don't need to tell me that. Go tell that to my brother." He said and looked down at the baby on his chest. Jace's eyes were starting to droop. "I need to put this little guy to bed, then maybe I can go to bed. I hope Rose got a nice nap while we were out."

"Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" I said with a laugh and got into my car.

I sighed and started up the engine. I wanted to talk to Edward. I needed to talk to Edward. I could do it. I wasn't going to chicken out, I was going to talk this out and make everything better. If what Emmett said was true, and I honestly believed that it was then both Edward and I had some explaining to do to each other. But I wasn't going to give in and have everything go back to the way it was. I was going to be strong and independent and make him earn back my trust. I just wasn't sure how I was going to do that yet.

I parked across the street from his house. It was nearly seven o'clock on Friday night. Edward's car was in the driveway as well as Jakes Jeep. I thought about driving away because Jake was here and he didn't need to see this, it was between Edward and I. It would be rude to pick a fight with someone while they had company over.

But I wasn't going to pick a fight was I? Who knows what could happen.

I took a few deep breaths and stepped out of the car determinedly. Before I could stop myself I knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. Vanessa answered the door. She looked shocked to see me. "Hi Bella," she said and stepped aside for me to come in. "My dad's in the shower." She muttered. She walked away and came back with Jake and Scotty. "We are going to get ice cream. Maybe go on a walk." She said and walked out the door leaving me alone inside the house with Edward showering upstairs.

I walked up the stairs and into Edward's room. The door to the bathroom was shut but I could hear the sound of the shower running. I knew I should have called. This was a bad idea. I sat on the bed fiddling with my thumbs. What if he totally freaked out?

My breathing began to pick up as the shower turned off and the sound of the glass door sliding. I got up and started pacing. I should leave, he is just getting out of the shower, and he is going to think that I am some creepy stalker like Tanya isn't he?

"Bella?" Edward asked.

I was so consumed in my thoughts that I didn't hear the sound of the door open. I looked to him and wanted to jump his bones. There he was, in all his toned wet glistening glory. With only a towel wrapped around his waist held up by his hand gripping the ends. His wet hair springing up this way and that. I bit my lip, hard, trying to make myself remember why I was here in the first place.

"I- we need to talk." I stumbled over my words looking down to the ground.

"Let me put some pants on." He said and stepped into the closet, pulling the doors shut behind him. When he walked back out he was wearing a pair of sweats that said GIANTS on the side. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Tell me exactly what happened between you and Tanya all those months ago on that first date."

He ran his hands through his hair and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Tanya had been following me around for a while and I thought it was sort of cute. It was like she had this schoolgirl crush on me. She was pretty and seemed nice enough so I asked her out. On our date she hung on my every word and there was just something about her. I don't know I just got these weird vibes. So I didn't call her back the next day and I avoided her at work. Eventually she got it that I wasn't interested."

I snorted. "Yeah, clearly she has moved on."

"Bella, I am so sorry. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you. I guess I just though that it wasn't a big deal because all she did was kiss me." He said pleadingly. "When I told you that I love you I wasn't lying. I haven't felt this way about anyone since Victoria but this time it's so much stronger than what had with her. You're the one for me Bella. Please, please forgive me." He looked like he was on the verge of tears. I wanted to badly to reach out to him and tell him that I had forgiven him and that everything was going to be better and that we could move on.

But I couldn't. I had to hold my ground.

"So that night, you got drunk because you missed me and couldn't get a hold of me." He nodded. "And then Tanya showed up. And then she spilled all the fake shit about her life, that you fell for hook, line and sinker." Edward's head fell down into his hands but I could see what looked like a nod. "Then you got up and asked her for a dance." Nod. "And then you started telling her about what was going on with Vanessa, and then she suggested that you go back to her hotel room," nod. "And then you apologized for the way you treated her after your date and she attacked you?"

"That is exactly what happened. If Tanya wasn't such a crazy bitch I would say ask her but, you know first hand that she isn't exactly stable."

"How impossibly stupid can you get?" I blurted out. Who talks to a woman who previously stalked them and then freaked them out on a date about such personal things? What kind of dumbass does that? If it were me I would stay as far away as possible from that person.

"Clearly, I can get pretty stupid." He muttered.

"No shit." I sat down next to him. "I'm sorry for not letting you explain."

He shook his head. "Bella, love, you have nothing to apologize for. It was entirely my fault. I was the one who didn't tell you about the past that Tanya had and then again for not telling you about what happened that night."

I let out a long breath. "Your right. This is your fault."

He laughed a genuine laugh. I smiled and looked up at him. He had fallen back on his bed. And was just staring at the ceiling.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked leaning over him.

"You," he replied. "How much I missed you. How much I love you. I never thought I could love someone this much this way." His words were beginning to break through my resolve. I wasn't going to let him do this to me. Yes we were going to work through this, but he cant just get away with this either, but his hair was still wet, drying just a little bit and I ran my hand through it.

The next thing that happened was a blur. He pulled me down on top of him and captured my lips with his, nipping and sucking on them like an expert. He rolled on top of me and stuck his hands up under my shirt.

It felt like there was two of me. There was my body and then there was my brain. My body was telling me to let Edward do whatever he wanted with me. I had been waiting months for this moment. My brain was telling me to shove him off me and make him stop.

Edward had effectively pulled my shirt off as well as my pants leaving me only in my underwear. "Bella," he murmured into my ear as he kissed his way down my body. It felt like every part of me was hyper aware that he was there, touching me in the most intimate ways. He treated me as though I were a goddess, worshipping every inch of me. I had never felt so loved and so special to one person.

I think it was safe to say that my body won out over my brain.

I rolled over the next morning and saw that I wasn't in my own bed. I was in that heavenly object that Edward called a bed. There was a rustling of the blankets and then I felt an arm wrap around me. But there wasn't a layer of fabric in between; it was skin on skin contact. I lifted the blankets up and saw that yes, I was naked.

So that hadn't been the most amazing and realistic dream of my life.

That made me very, very happy and well as extremely angry with myself.

Edward shouldn't have that power over me. He shouldn't be able to say such sweet words and then use his lips and his fingers as well as other wonderful appendages to make me melt and forgive him.

I rolled away from Edward's arm and out of bed. I grabbed my bra and underwear off the ground and then I ran, naked, into the closet to find a t-shirt and a pair of boxers and quickly pulled them on. I stepped into the bathroom and used Edward's toothbrush to brush my teeth. I figured it wouldn't really matter considering what we did last night. I got the smeared makeup off my face and brushed out my hair making myself look halfway presentable.

When I came out again Edward was sitting up in bed with his arms folded behind his head with a sloppy grin on his face. "Morning," he said.

"Morning," I replied quietly. I crawled back into bed and pursed my lips. How to put this nicely? "Last night shouldn't have happened." Edward's smile faltered. "I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy it and wish that it never happened, but I'm just saying that it wasn't exactly what I had planned."

Edward nodded. "So what exactly are you saying?"

"I don't know," I said. "All I know is that probably wont be happening again anytime soon, because I am still angry at you for not telling me all that went on with Tanya. So we are not one hundred percent okay yet."

Edward looked disappointed but I knew that he understood. He knew that he was going to have to earn my trust back, and he knew how hard that was going to be.


	32. Chapter 32

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 32_

_EPOV_

The hard part about earning someone's trust back is that you never know how to do it and never know when you have it. It had been three weeks since Bella and I had "talked." There was talking, just not very much of it. I needed Bella to know how much I loved her and I couldn't find a way to put into words so I showed her.

When I woke up that morning I felt elated, that maybe Bella and I could go back to the way things were before Tanya had to step in the screw everything up. I knew that night was going to come back and bite me in the ass at some point. I knew I should have told Bella the moment I got back what had happened. So why didn't I?

Because I'm a scared little pansy that's why.

Bella had told me that I needed to earn back her trust. So I tried everything. I was probably trying a little too hard. I always made sure to tell her what was going on in the day and I called her at lunch and dinner and let her talk to the kids so she knew that I was at home and that nothing else was going on. That was trustworthy right?

She had gone back to spending time with us on the weekends but she didn't spend the night anymore.

It was now Tuesday, the week before school for the kids started, and three weeks to the day before our court date against James. Alice and Bella had taken Scotty and Vanessa out for the day to go shopping for new school supplies and clothes.

We had gotten Vanessa signed up for graduating next year yesterday at one of the back to school days. She was going to have a full plate. She was taking the rest of her elective classes and her English classes at the community college so that she could take AP chemistry, physics, AP US history, economics and AP Government.

I hated signing her up for all those classes, but this was something she wanted to do. I knew she was ready for it, but I didn't want to see my daughter leave so soon. I thought I would have another two years with her, when I all I have is one. She and Jake planned on attending NYU and it wasn't that far away, but what do you expect from a parent?

I thought about my lunch, loathing the fact that I needed to go to the staff lounge to heat it up. We had run out of bread after I made Scotty breakfast this morning and I had an appointment at twelve thirty so I didn't have the luxury of being able to go out for lunch.

The last time that I had been in the staff lounge I had run into Tanya.

"_You promised Angela that you would have lunch with her today in the staff lounge, you cant just back out." I thought to myself. I had done careful work of avoiding Tanya again. I was afraid of what I would do if I saw her. _

_I had my hand raised at the door; ready to turn the knob or bolt back to my desk, but after my internal battle I grasped the knob and opened the door. I looked around at the people bustling about, trying to help people or get to where they needed to be. _

_I stepped into the masses and walked down the halls towards the staff lounge. I saw Angela sitting at a table preparing her food and was almost home clear, when I felt someone grab my hand. I turned around and saw Tanya standing there with a smile on her face. I fought off the urges I had to rip my hand away from hers and kill her for what she did to me. _

_Instead I tried as gently as possible to pull my hand away. When I was successful Tanya frowned slightly but stepped forward towards me, backing me up against the wall. I looked around frantically; wondering if anyone was coming that might be able to help me. Unfortunately, this hall was completely empty except for Tanya and myself. _

"_Edward," she said, "I've missed you." _

"_Tanya," I started, but she put her finger to my lips. _

"_Edward," she murmured. "I knew before that you weren't ready for us to be together yet, and I knew you needed that final push. You needed my help to get rid of Bella. You are such a kind and considerate person that you couldn't bear to hurt her feelings!" she said excitedly. "But I fixed it! I understood your situation. Sometimes we all need help getting through things, and I did that. I helped you get through Bella," My eyes widened in terror. How mentally unstable was this woman? What had she gone through to get this way? "I love you Edward, god, I love you so much." she leaned in to kiss me, but I shoved her away from me. _

_My inner gentleman was berating me about laying a hand on a woman, but this was more important that being gentlemanly. "Tanya, you have it all wrong. What happened in Miami was a drunken mistake that you took advantage of. Nothing even happened, and if you actually believe that something did, it's something that you imagined. All that you have helped with is to fuck up my relationship. I haven't heard from Bella in weeks. She wont talk to me and she wont see me all because of that stupid shit you pulled at Angela's engagement party." _

_She looked at me with scared eyes. "But that night was so beautiful," she whispered. "You made me feel so complete, how could you forget what we did that night? You showed me how much you cared about me! We had sex, why wont you admit that?" she screamed. _

"_Because it never happened!" I yelled._

_I heard footsteps coming towards us and turned my head to see Dr. Otori, the chief doctor of the hospital and head of staff, walking down the hall. "What's going on here?" he asked gruffly. He was an older man who had moved here from Japan when he turned eighteen. His black hair was clean cut with the sides turning grey. His glasses made it hard to see that his eyes were actually grey like his hair. You could tell that he had been handsome back in the day, maybe even a ladies man. _

"_Nothing, Tanya and I were just having a discussion." I said quickly. _

_Tanya was on the verge of tears and was whispering her love for me. Dr. Otori looked between the both of us and sighed. "I would like to speak with you in my office later today," was all he said before walking into the lounge. _

_I left Tanya crumpling outside and sat down next to Angela. She just stared at me, not saying anything. "Hi," I said exasperatedly. _

_She waved her fork at me and continued eating her lunch. The lounge was uncharacteristically quiet, only soft murmurs of rumors that had already begun to spread about Tanya and I. _

_I didn't eat lunch but when Dr. Otori was done he put his hand on my shoulder and led me to his office. _

_He sat down at his desk and I took a seat in one of the soft chairs in front of him. "So," he said, "What exactly happened today in the hall?" _

_I sighed and shook my head. "Would you like the long version or the short version?" _

_His eyes twinkled from under his glasses. I knew that look. Dr. Kyoya Otori was the youngest of three boys. His family was rich and powerful back in Japan, his older brothers were perfect and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't amount up to them in his fathers eyes. That was why he came here when he was eighteen. He was tired of being looked down upon, being last. America gave him the opportunity to be first. Dr. Otori was a cutthroat son of a bitch and would do anything and everything to make his way to the top and he never did anything that wouldn't benefit him. We all knew his story. "I feel as though I may get more entertainment out of the long version," _

_I started at the beginning, when Tanya and I went out on a date, me ignoring her, meeting Bella, the trip to Miami (I left out the part where I got totally hammed) and then what happened at Angela's party. _

_He smirked when I finished. "I happen to know for a fact that Tanya wouldn't have acted as such if you hadn't done something to provoke her. All women are the same,"_

_I bit the inside of my cheek at that one. Not all women were the same. Bella for example she wasn't the same as all those other ditzy girls out there. "I did have too much to drink that night. I told her how sorry I was for treating her the way I did and that I thought she was a wonderful person," _

_He chuckled and pushed up his glasses with his middle finger, "Ah, now there's the rub isn't it?" he said and I nodded. "Well, from what I saw earlier before lunch it seems as though Tanya isn't well and we are going to have to deal with that." _

"_You aren't going to fire her are you?" I asked worriedly. I may hate her but I don't want to be the reason that Tanya loses her job. _

"_Of course I am," he said as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. "I will not have a mentally unstable, pest representing my hospital. I will make sure that she gets the care that she needs, but she will not be working here any longer." _

"_I- I see." I said lamely. "Is there anything else you wish to talk to me about?" _

_He shook his head, "No, I think that will be all for now." I nodded and got up to leave but just as I reached the door Dr. Otori began to speak once more. "You know, you remind me of an old friend of mine. Tamaki Suo. He wanted to help everyone just as you do. I know you do not wish for me to fire Tanya, I can see it in your eyes. But I think you have a bit more sense than he did." _

_I didn't turn to look at him. "What happened to him?" _

_He laughed, something that I had never heard him do before. "He married the woman he had been in love with in high school and took over his family empire, despite all the odds that were stacked against him." _

_I smiled at his words before walking out the door. _

The next day Tanya had been taken to a local psychiatric facility. Dr. Otori wasn't lying when he said that she would be taken care of. She had the best doctors and the best treatment possible.

I called Bella to check in with everyone. They were eating lunch at a little Italian restaurant not too far from the mall. They were going clothes shopping next. When were saying goodbye she said so softly, I wasn't sure if I heard it right, "I love you,"

"I love you, so much," I told her before hanging up the phone.

When I got home that night I was surprised to see Bella in the kitchen with Alice and Jasper sitting at the breakfast bar with glasses of wine.

"Hey Edward," Jasper said, being the first to notice me walk into the room.

"Hey Jazz, how's it going? Any of your history students falling for you?" We had a joke back in college when Jasper decided to become a US history teacher that because all the ladies were falling all over him back then that he was going to be the teacher all the girls fantasized about.

"No complaints and no, you perv." He said sipping his wine.

I chuckled and Bella came over and hugged me. "I invited Alice and Jasper over for dinner, I hope that's alright?"

I kissed her on the cheek, glad that she was the first to initiate some sort of physical contact. I must be getting somewhere in the trust department. "Of course. It's been a while since I have hung out with them."

She smiled and went back to whatever she was cooking on the stove.

I poured myself a glass of wine and pulled up a seat next to Jasper. "How have things been going for you my friend?" he asked clapping me on the back.

I looked to Bella; she was flitting around the kitchen, gathering everything she needed. "Everything is looking up."

"You guys went through sort of a rough patch didn't you?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I guess you could call it that. I just hope nothing like that happens ever again. Did I tell you that Tanya is in a psychiatric facility now?"

"Are you serious?" he asked incredulously. After Bella went to talk to Emmett about what he knew about Tanya, Emmett told the whole family about what had been going on with us. My parents even knew about what Tanya had done.

"Yep, about two weeks ago actually. Tanya had a fit when I saw her for the first time after that party and Dr. Otori walked in right as it was happening. He is one intimidating son of a bitch." I mumbled.

"Damn," he said. Alice had gone to help Bella, probably bored with hearing information that she already knew. Bella had begun going to Alice about everything and they had become really close friends. It was nice to see. I had already told Bella what had happened and Alice swore that she would tell no one, not ever Jasper. I trust her more than my own brother. "The only thing exciting going on with me is that I'm thinking about proposing to Alice," he whispered.

"Holy shit," I mumbled. Jasper had never been the guy to settle down. He would always have a girlfriend and he had been in plenty of serious relationships but he was never the marrying type. He was in a band back in college and had dated one of the background singers for a while, Sophie was her name, and she was quiet and awkward to be around. He was devastated when they broke up, but he eventually moved on to Alex. Vanessa loved Alex; she was nice and outgoing. They were together for probably six years. Jasper broke when they split. Now he has Alice. They seemed perfect for each other, but marriage? That's a new one. Not once did he ever mention the "M" word when he was with the other girls.

"Yeah, can we go outside and talk?" he asked sliding off the barstool.

I nodded and we walked out onto the back porch. "Are you serious?" I asked when I shut the door. "Marriage? You have always been against marriage, saying that no one needs a piece of paper to prove that two people truly love each other,"

He ran his hands through his hair pulling on it and pacing. "I know, trust me man, I know. But there is just something about Alice. I love her so much that I just want to prove to everyone out there that, that gorgeous, funny, intelligent, kind, and loving woman in there is with me. And no one else can have her. And if it takes a couple rings, a ceremony and a piece of paper to do that, then fuck it all, I'm gunna do it."

I let out a long breath. "Damn, sounds like you have your proposal right there,"

He laughed. "Yeah right, you know Alice. She will want something over the top and fancy for a proposal. Jesus, just think about what the wedding would look like!"

"Chill man, she hasn't even said yes yet,"

Jasper looked at me and paled. "Do you think she would say no? We have talked about it a little bit before, but I have always pulled the 'who needs a piece of paper,'"

I laughed at the expression on his face. "If I know Alice, and I'm hoping that I do, with all that we have talked about, I know that she will say yes."


	33. Chapter 33

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 33_

_VPOV_

"You okay?" Bella asked, sitting on my bed re-folding all the clothes that we had gone through in our effort to find something for me to wear tomorrow for the first day of school.

I was staring at myself in the full-length mirror, tugging on my hair and pulling it up, turning from side to side. Did I look different? "I guess I'm just a little nervous. What if no one looks at me the same way as they used to? What if they think that I'm this broken and fragile person that they have to be careful with, instead of the me that they used to know?"

I could see the sympathetic look Bella was giving me from the mirror. "Who cares what they think 'Ness?" Bella said using the nickname that she had given me. I actually kind of liked it.

"I do." I said turning around to look at her and wrapping my arms around myself. "I have to spend another year with these people and I don't want them thinking that I'm not me anymore because of what I went through."

What had happened to me had made the local paper, unfortunately. Our neighbors were journalists and they decided to write a piece on how to be safe from rape and molestation, how it could happen to anyone. I didn't think anything of it when they had asked me to tell my story. But now all my friends and all the kids at school knew too. I got texts from people I rarely talked to telling me that they were so sorry about what I gone through. Instead of making me feel better I just felt angrier.

"Well, you're just going to have to prove them wrong. Show them that you aren't some delicate little girl who was hurt, but a strong independent woman who may have some scars. Those just add character." She replied.

I flopped down on my bed next to her and stared up at the ceiling. "I can't wait until I graduate." I muttered.

She laughed and lay down next to me. "Real life isn't all that its cracked up to be, believe me."

"But you have a successful book series and you have my dad. Everything is great for you."

"Right at this very moment it is, but that doesn't mean it's always like this. Two weeks ago my life wasn't perfect. I was still extremely angry with your dad. I still am. But I'm moving on over it. It takes a lot of work to be happy." She said in a distant voice. She rolled over to face me. "What do you even want to do when you get to college? Do you have a plan?"

I bit my lip. "I was thinking photography."

"Really?" she said shocked. "You've never really expressed an interest before."

I shrugged. "It's kind of been a recent thing. After I got my hair cut I guess things started to look different. As lame as that sounds." I laughed. "I feel like since because I've seen some of the ugly in the world I can see the beautiful easier now, and I want to be able to capture that beauty and be able to look back on it. I don't know if I'll be any good at it since I really haven't had a chance to try it. But I am saving up for a nice camera."

Bella smiled and looked like she was about to start crying. "Have you told your dad about it?"

"No," I said thoughtfully. "I haven't even talked to Jake about it. You're the first person. I guess I haven't really ever thought about it before. There has been way too much going on."

"Maybe you should talk to your dad about it. I'm sure he would love to talk to you about it."

I nodded. "I think I will. After the whole trial thing is over though."

"Whatever makes you happy 'Ness." She said and got up, leaving the room.

The next morning when I woke up at six AM I didn't get up, which obviously caught the attention of my brother because he ran in and jumped on my bed.

"Wake up, wake up! It's the first day of school!" he said bouncing up and down.

I glared at him. One day, he was going to hate getting up and going to school. "I'm a second grader!" he squealed in delight.

"I'm a senior." I mumbled. I guess it really hadn't sunk in until now that I was going to graduate in 180 days and then I would be going to NYU with Jacob.

Scotty ignored me and pulled me out of my bed and downstairs where the smell of pancakes and bacon swirled around the room. My dad was sitting at the table in his pajamas and a cup of coffee while Bella was standing in front of the stove wrapped in a red silk robe.

"What's all this?" I asked.

My dad looked up. "It's the first day of school." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know that." I said pointedly. "But what's with the pancakes and all that?"

"I wanted to make you and Scotty something special." Bella turned around setting down two plates full of bacon and pancakes.

I settled myself at the table and just about died biting into the fluffy piece of heaven that Bella called her pancakes. Why hadn't she made these sooner?

When I finished I sat back in my chair contentedly with a smile on my face. "Did you still want me to help with your hair?" Bella asked me from across the table.

"Yeah, absolutely." I said. She had tried curling my new shorter hair a few days ago. After I got used to how light and bouncy it was, I loved it. I just didn't know how to do it myself yet.

"You got all this, right?" Bella asked my dad gesturing to the table full of dirty dishes that had to be cleaned.

He nodded and shooed us out of the room. Bella ordered me to change into the outfit that we had picked out last night, which consisted of grey twill shorties, a navy cold shoulder lace tee and black flip flops. When I finished changing I sat down in the computer chair Bella had brought into the bathroom and she got to work on my hair. After it was lightly curled Bella left, leaving me to do my own makeup. I searched through my bag until I found the colors that I wanted. Why not have a little fun? I finished off getting ready with a bright green toned down with a little black on the outsides.

I walked up to my full-length mirror, and this time, twirled and smiled with satisfaction.

I packed up my bag with the things that I would need for today and waited until Jake got here to take me to school. Today was going to be a good day. Jake and I had almost the exact same schedule; nobody was going to think anything less of me. I was a stronger and more confident girl than I was last year.

When I heard Jacob's voice downstairs I grabbed my backpack and rushed downstairs and into his arms. He held me tightly against him before letting me go. "You ready?" he asked and I nodded. My dad and Bella stood across from us with hopeful smiles on their faces.

I left Jakes side and hugged my father with all that I had. "If you need anything, you know I'm just a phone call away." I nodded into his chest. "I love you," he said and released me.

Bella smiled at me. "Remember what we talked about last night." Was all she said and she hugged me lightly.

I waved one last time before leaving with Jacob, who held my hand the whole way to school. From the way that I had said goodbye to Bella and my dad you would think that I was leaving home forever.

My heart started pounding as we pulled into the parking lot and I gripped onto Jake's hand harder. "Don't worry, Van," he said. "They don't know anything. I doubt anyone will make that big a deal out of it. I got you babe,"

I nodded and slipped out of the car. Jake draped his arm protectively around my shoulder and held me against him. I took deep breaths as we entered the school and walked down the hall towards our lockers where our friends would be waiting for us. Everyone looked exactly the same as they had before the end of the last school year. When they finally noticed us, I held my breath.

I kept waiting for the looks of sympathy, but I was shocked that they never came. Jane ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me pulling me away from Jake who laughed. "Babes!" she said excitedly and hugged me tightly. "I missed you like a motherfucker!" she screamed.

"I missed you too," I laughed and squeezed her back.

She released me and put her hands on either side of my face, and searched into my eyes. "You're okay right?" she asked me gently. I nodded. "Good, 'cause I was not looking forward to the jail time that was going to come with killing that fucker who laid his filthy hands on my best friend."

Tears filled my eyes but I blinked them back. She kissed me on the cheek and tugged me into the circle before jumping into Felix's arms. "What the hell?" I asked pointing at them.

Felix shrugged and kissed Jane fully on the lips. "She's made an honest man out of me." I heard a snort and looked at Demetri who started laughing.

"We were practically dating anyway, now its just facebook official as well as public." Jane said. I thought about it, they were always together, and were always each other's dates to everything.

"Well, I think its great. Almost as great as having you back Van," Heidi said with a smile and pulled me into a hug.

"Well fuck," Alec said. He had cut his hair from his patented swoosh which predated Justin Bieber to a shorter cut that looked much better. "I'm the only single one here."

Everyone laughed. "Looks like you better get yourself a girlfriend." Jake said.

He shrugged and looked around the halls, scouting out potential girlfriends no doubt.

The bell rang, signaling that it was time for all of us to head to class. Jake and I had the same first, so we walked together, hand in hand.

BPOV

I set down the book that I was reading on the coffee table and stared up at the ceiling. After Edward had left for work and to drop Scotty off at school I took a shower and went back to my own house. I had a lot of housework to do. I had been spending a lot of time at Edward's house lately.

He was trying so hard to earn my trust back; I could see it. He called to check in and texted me all the time just to see what was going on. And I appreciated it. I told him that I loved him again last week. It was true, I did love him, and I couldn't stop the shivers that would roll down my spine when he would say that he loved me in return.

I still didn't know if I could fully trust him though. I wanted to, but a small part of me still feels like he could betray me at any time. He has to be the most gorgeous man on the planet, who is also a doctor and loaded, with two amazing kids and a fantastic family. What woman wouldn't want to get her hands on him?

What if he got tired of me? What happens if he gets bored with me? With the way that I have been freezing him out the past month he is bound to start looking around elsewhere. I can't give him everything that he wants and needs if I cant trust him.

I bit my lip. I needed advise, but I didn't want to go to Alice about it, and Rosalie is busy with the baby. I pulled out my cell phone and scrolled through my contacts list until I found the number that I was looking for. Mom.

The phone rang three times until someone picked up. "Hello?" a deep voice said.

"Hey Phil, its Bella," I said.

"Oh hey Bells, what's up?" he said cheerfully.

"I was just wondering if mom was around."

"What? Your step dad not good enough for you?" he asked in mock hurt.

I laughed. "Of course you are. Do you want to give me boy advice?"

"Uh, no," he muttered. "But if you need me to kick someone's ass, you know I'm here. Charlie and I will tag team him."

"I'll be sure to remember that, but I'm not a teenager anymore." I said with a smile.

"Of course you aren't. Your moms right here," he said and I heard a rustle as the phone was passed between people.

"Bella?" my mom's light voice asked.

"Hey mom," I said.

"What's this I hear about needing boy advise?" she asked with a teasing tone in her voice.

I had told her about Edward, hell I even called up my biological dad Charlie and told him about Edward, but I hadn't told either one of them about what happened with Tanya. Now I got to endure the pain and humiliation of telling my mother. "Well, you remember Edward right?"

"The hot piece that you got?" she asked.

I laughed. This was why Renee and Charlie didn't work out. Charlie is a reclusive guy who liked to keep things the way they are and not do anything too spontaneous. I guys you could say he is kind of a conservative. My mom was the only bright and colorful thing in his life once upon a time. But my mom got bored in Forks and as much as she loved my father, she needed to try new things and go out into the unknown. That's probably why her and my stepfather Phil are so great for each other. He is a minor league baseball player and so they get to travel a lot, something that mother loves. He is a few years younger than her so he still likes to try funky new things. My mother would always be a twenty one year old at heart. "Yes him," I replied. "I want your advise on something." I told her and then went into full detail on what happened.

"Wow," was all she had to say. "You still love him after all that?"

I shrugged, even if she couldn't see it. "When I met her she seemed like a genuinely crazy bitch." I said.

"Yeah, I see your point there. And he does seem to really love you if he is trying this hard to earn back your trust." She muttered.

"I know. But I can't help that feeling of 'what if he meets someone else and then cheats on me' feeling, you know?"

She sighed on the other end. "Honey, what person in a relationship doesn't have that feeling? There is absolutely no guarantee that the person you are with is going to be faithful. You just have to trust them. That's what helps build the foundation of a good relationship. Trust. Without it how do you expect for that relationship to work? If you don't get over that fear then you aren't going to be as happy as you could be."

I was silent for a moment. It always really hit me whenever my mom was deep and serious like she was at this moment. "I really want to get over it, but its still nagging at me."

"What could he possibly do or say that would set in stone for you that he isn't going to try and get with anyone else?"

"Nothing," I mumbled.

"Exactly. Trust, sweetheart. I know your hurt by what happened, but if what he said is true than nothing really did happen. Who are you going to trust more? The man that you love or some insane woman who, might I remind you, is now in a mental hospital?"

I groaned. "When did you get deep and intellectual?" I muttered.

She laughed. "I've always been this way, honey. I just hate being this way, its so depressing!"

"Its unnerving is what it is," I said.

She laughed. "Well, I'm glad I can make you uncomfortable and teach you a life lesson all at the same time."

"I love you mom," I said with a laugh.

"I love you too sweetheart. You should call more often." She said sadly.

"Yeah I know. I have been busy with my books and then all this crap that has been going on."

"That reminds me, how have things been going with his daughter?"

"Vanessa and I are actually starting to get along. After that night that she needed my help, we've kind of bonded I guess." I said.

"Well that's good. You always need the support of the kids. It can be hard for someone to walk in and start taking the place of a parental figure. But you weren't that way with Phil." She said thoughtfully.

"I was a bit more mature than I should have been for my age." I said.

"You never were a teenager really, always acting like an adult." She said softly. "I'm sorry about that. It was my fault wasn't it? I was never really a good parent."

"Mom, yes you were. I have always been like dad. I think it was a good thing that I was mature. It kept me from getting into stupid shit like all the other kids in school were doing." I told her honestly.

She sighed, "I suppose you're right."

I checked the time and shot up. I had ten minutes to get to the school and pick up Scotty. Jake was coming over to do homework with Vanessa so she would be getting a ride with him, but I still had to pick up the new second grader. "Hey mom, I have to go. I have to pick Scotty up from school. It was his first day."

"Oh okay, well call soon! I love you!"

"I love you too," I said before hanging up and rushing out the door.

By the time that I got to the school most of the kids were gone and Scotty stood outside looking around for my car. He grinned brightly when he saw me and ran up to the car when I stopped. "Hi Bella!" he said.

"Hey there, Mr. Second Grader. How was your first day?"

"It was good. I have three of my friends in my class, but I made more today!" he said excitedly.

I smiled back at him. "That's awesome buddy, do you have any homework?"

"No! It's the first day of school, there's no homework on the first day of school, silly!" he said.

We pulled up to the house and Scotty ran up next to me as I unlocked the door. "Can I have a snack?"

"You can have some goldfish, but that's it. You wont be hungry if you eat too much." I told him sternly.

"But I'm hungry right now," he said with a pout.

"A small bowl of goldfish, and that's it Mr."

Scotty hung his head in defeat but ran upstairs to take off his shoes and bag. I got him his goldfish and set them on the counter for when he came back down to watch television. I pulled some chicken out of the freezer and set it out to defrost for dinner.

I settled myself on the couch and started flipping through the channels. "I wanna watch sponge bob." Scotty said flopping down next to me. I went to the nickelodeon channels.

"Its not on," I told him and he frowned. I put on a movie about talking blue birds on and we sat there for a while in silence. Scotty finished his goldfish in five minutes flat. He is his uncle's nephew.

After an hour or so Vanessa and Jacob showed up and began working on their homework in the dining room and I started getting dinner prepared. "Do you want to stay for dinner?" I asked Jake.

"Yeah sure. Is that alright?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Jacob had been very well behaved ever since the incident where he was found with Vanessa in the bedroom. He had apologized to me for his lewd behavior to me afterwards. He didn't really have an explanation, but I still accepted his apology. I knew that he truly loved Vanessa, and that was all that mattered.

Around five Edward came home and wrapped his arms around me as I stirred the cheese for macaroni and cheese. "That smells really good," he said and kissed my neck.

Trust, I thought and leaned into him. "Welcome home." I said. "How was work?"

"The usual. Kids with the flu, colds, ear infections." He said.

I laughed. "I'm amazed that you aren't sick all the time."

He brushed invisible dust off his shoulder. "I'm immune to it all I guess. I never get sick."

"Now one day you're going to get really sick." I said with a smile. "You just jinxed yourself into a week in bed."

"Do I get to spend it with you?" he asked seductively.

I shrugged. "Maybe. We could play doctor." I said with a wink before I burst out laughing.

"Should I bring my stethoscope home?" he asked with a smirk.

I nodded. "That and your white scientist jacket or whatever all you doctors wear."

He gazed off into space thoughtfully. "You know, I'm holding you to this little doctor fantasy. One day it will happen." He said with a wicked grin.

"Of course," I said as though it should have been obvious from the beginning.

I finished up dinner and we all ate, discussing how our days had been. Turns out that Vanessa had a very good day. She ignored everyone who gave her sympathetic looks that she hadn't been looking forward to and had a great day despite it all.

I said that I had a very uneventful day. I didn't tell them that I had talked to my mother. Especially that that talk had been about Edward.

Jake and Ness claimed dish duty, while Edward and I put Scotty to bed after a shower. When he was comfortably in bed Edward and I went to bed ourselves. I changed into one of his giant t-shirts and he pulled on a pair of sweats, staying bare-chested. Not that I minded.

We curled up under the covers watching television in comfortable silence.

I was the one that broke it. "I just wanted you to know, that I really appreciate what you have been doing lately."

"What's that?" he asked.

"Trying to earn back my trust. I really appreciate it. I'm almost certain that most men wouldn't try this hard to win someone's trust." I said.

"I love you Bella, if I didn't I wouldn't be trying as hard as I am. I want you to trust me. I want you to be as comfortable in this relationship as you used to be." He said.

I nodded. "I'm trying. There's just this little part of me that feels like your going to leave me for someone else. That you are going to try to find pleasure elsewhere."

"Don't you think that I feel the same way?" he said and I turned to face him. "After what happened with Tanya at that party I thought we were done for. I thought that you were never going to forgive me and that we were never going to be together again and it killed me to even think about you with someone else."

"Really?" I asked quietly. I felt the same way. I loved him, more than I had loved anyone else.

He laughed once. "Bella, I love you so much, it hurts, but in a good way. You, you are this perfect woman. Smart, funny, beautiful, and all those other things that you would probably hurt me for not saying."

"I wouldn't ever hurt you," I said.

"I wouldn't either, and it kills me that I already have. But Bella, you're it for me. I want to be with you always, I love you."

That was all I needed to hear. I rolled on top of him and brought his lips to mine with fervor. "I love you so much." I whispered against his lips. One of his hands found its way into my hair while the other arm wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me securely to him.

I ground into him, feeling him harden underneath me. He groaned into my mouth and rolled us over so that he was on top of me, pressing all of his warm weight onto me.

His kisses burned a trail of fire as he pulled my t-shirt off my body and my panties quickly followed suit.

I trusted him. I trusted him with my life, my heart, and my soul, my whole being. He was the one, the prince charming, the happily ever after. And I did, I trusted him.


	34. Chapter 34

**_She's All That_**

* * *

_Chapter 34  
_

_EPOV_

The drive to the courthouse was one of the most painful drives that I had ever had to make. Vanessa was fighting back tears the whole way there. "Vanessa," I said and grabbed her hand. "It's going to be alright baby, I promise."

She shook her head quickly. "I don't want to see him," she said. "He killed my mom. He hurt me." She said and the tears began rolling down her cheeks and her body began wracking with sobs.

I pulled over off the side of the road. "Dad, what are you doing?" she asked.

I got out and went around to the passenger side of the car and pulled it open. She undid her seatbelt and slid out and into my arms. I held her tightly as she squeezed as hard as she could. "I know you don't want to do this." I told her and she nodded against my chest. "But if you want him to go away forever, then you have to. If you want to make sure that your mother is really put to rest, then put the man who did this to her behind bars. For everything he did to you, make sure that he gets what he deserves. And with your testimony, he will."

"I love you daddy," she mumbled into my chest.

I pulled away from her and looked down at my daughter's face, which was lined with tears. "Stop crying," I murmured and wiped away her tears. "We can cry later, we need to be strong now."

She nodded and grabbed her bag pulling out a packet of tissues and wiped at her cheeks. "I'm ready to go now." She said after she redid her makeup in the mirror.

I nodded and got into the drivers side and pulled back onto the road. When we reached the courthouse we found Bella standing outside. She was dressed in a simple black pencil skirt and white ruffled blouse with black pumps. She looked beautiful as always.

She took Vanessa's hand and we walked into the main lobby where our lawyer was waiting. "Hello Mr. Cullen." Jenks said politely. Jenks was a referral from Jasper, I don't know when Jasper ever needed a lawyer, but he was one of the best apparently. Not that there was any doubt that we were going to lose this case, but it was nice to have him here.

Jenks led us into the courtroom where we would be having our trial. Bella and I stayed behind to sit down on the benches while Vanessa followed Jenks up to the front.

After the motions were gone through, James was brought in. His greasy hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he was dressed up in an old suit. He looked like hell. Good. He deserved to look like the piece of shit he was.

"…Calls Vanessa Cullen to the stand." I stared as my daughter swore the oath and sat down in the seat beside the judge.

"Vanessa, can you please recall the events from that night?" I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I opened them when I felt a hand squeeze my knee lightly and I looked to Bella who had a reassuring smile on her face.

I smiled back and grabbed her hand then looked to my daughter. "I had been out all day and I came back to the apartment when it was starting to get dark. I didn't like being alone with James. He would touch me whenever my mom wasn't around. He didn't try anything, until that night. My mom wasn't home when I got home. James asked me where I had been so I told him out. He was complaining about how expensive things were now that I was living with them. I told him to get a job. He got angry and hit me, making me apologize. He said he knew a way that I could make it up to him. He started pulling at his belt buckle and I tried to get away, but he got on top of me and started to strangle me and pull at my clothes. That's when my mom got home. She tried to get him off me. He threw her against the wall and punched her so hard in the face that you could hear the bones break. She told me to run, so I did. I took a cab to the outside of Westchester and my dad's girlfriend picked me up." She finished, with tears rolling down her face.

I looked to James who had a smirk on his face. I started to get up but Bella squeezed my hand. "Don't, he'll get what's coming to him."

I took a deep breath and let it out before settling back into my seat beside her. I turned out the rest of the hearing until the very end when the judge made their decision.

"James Hunter, you are here by sentenced to life in prison with no parole on accounts of second degree murder." The man banged his gavel and it was over.

Even though there was hardly a doubt about how this would end, it still felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Vanessa walked quickly passed everyone and into my waiting arms. It was nearly four thirty now that the hearing was over. We had planned to have a family dinner at our house as a celebratory potluck party.

Once in the car Vanessa slumped into her seat and closed her eyes. "Did you invite Jacob over tonight for dinner?"

She nodded. "Is it okay if he comes over before everyone else?"

"Yeah that's fine. How are you feeling?" I asked as we pulled out onto the street and headed home.

Vanessa shrugged and rested her head against the window. "Relieved I guess. Its reassuring that he's going away for life, but he was staring at me while I was sitting up there telling the story, in that really creepy way that he used to when I was with him and mom." She said and I saw her visibly shiver.

"We have nothing to worry about. They are even taking him out of state. I doubt he is even smart enough to figure out a way to break out anyway." I muttered.

When we got home Bella was already in the kitchen getting food ready and Jacob was sitting in the living room watching television. Scotty was at his grandparents for the day and would be coming with them to dinner.

Jacob and Vanessa went upstairs alone and I shot him a look that said I would castrate him with a pair of rusty sheers if he tried anything. He got the hint and saluted me.

"How is she?" Bella asked turning around and leaning back against the counter.

"She's good I think. A little freaked out, but who wouldn't be?" I replied.

She nodded. "How are you?"

I rubbed the heels of my hands against my eyes. "If I were the judge I would have sentenced him to death right there, and then would have been the one to kill him."

"He's going away forever. You don't have to worry about him anymore. You just need to focus on what you have right here at home." She said crossing the distance between us to give me a kiss.

I pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Do you count?"

She smiled. "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

I shrugged. "Maybe because you don't live here…"

"I think that can easily be rectified." She said.

I raised my eyebrows. "You really want to move back in?" If Bella moved back in with me, things would be that much closer to being perfect. Then all I needed was to get a ring on her finger, get a dog, and have another kid possibly…

"If you're okay with it, then yes." Bella said, looking up at me from under those thick lashes. "You have gained back all of my trust and then some. I love you Edward. I want to be with you, always."

I crashed my lips to hers, pulling her tightly to me, wrapping one arm around her waist and the other locked in her thick mahogany hair. Her arms slipped up around my neck then her fingers began to tug lightly on my hair, before she pushed my head closer to hers. My tongue slipped inside her mouth, teasing hers. Finally we had to break apart to breathe.

I rested my forehead against hers. "Marry me," I breathed.

Bella laughed. "What?"

I pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "Marry me, Bella. I love you, and I want to be with you more than anything in the world. Jasper got me thinking, if you truly love someone and want to be with them, then two rings, a piece of paper and a ceremony isn't that bad. You said it yourself that you want to be with me forever right?"

She nodded and then looked down at her left hand. "So is this a serious proposal? Are you really asking me to marry you right now?"

I stepped back away from her and got down on one knee. "I don't have a ring, this was kind of spur of the moment," I said before grabbing her hand. "Isabella Swan, I promise to love you every moment of forever, would you do me the extraordinary honor of marrying me?"

Bella stood there staring at me, her face frozen in shock. "This is the part where you drop your lady balls, and say yes." A voice said.

I jumped up from where I was kneeling and turned to find Rosalie standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a bowl in her hands and Emmett standing sheepishly behind her running his hands through his curly hair, with a sleeping baby strapped to his chest. "When did you get here?" I asked nervously.

"About the time you dropped to your knee," Emmett said.

"And you didn't say anything?"

"You two were having a moment, we didn't want to ruin it." Rosalie said.

"Ruin what moment?" Alice called from down the hall. She put down her plate full of food and grabbed Rosalie's, setting it down for her.

"Edward proposing to Bella. It was very sweet and romantic, unlike his brothers to me." She said giving Emmett a pointed glance.

"Hey," Emmett said holding his hands up in defense. "You said yes. That's all that matters, right babe?"

"Mhmm." Rosalie said turning away from him and rolling her eyes.

Alice began jumping up and down and rushed to hug both of us. "You guys are getting married oh that's so exciting!" she squealed clapping her hands.

"Who's getting married?" Carlisle asked walking into the kitchen carrying a crock-pot before Esme followed with two trays covered in tin foil. Scotty walked in just as Alice spilled the beans.

"Edward and Bella are getting married!" she said excitedly.

Scotty looked up at everyone. "Does that mean that Bella's going to be my new mommy?"

Emmett nodded. "She is going to be your new mommy, kid."

A wide smile spread over Scotty's face and he ran up the stairs, tripping over his feet. "I have to tell Nessie!"

My mother nearly collapsed. She brought her hand to cover her mouth and tears filled her eyes. "Oh my baby boy!" she said and brought both hands to my face. "I am so proud of you to have found such a beautiful, kind, loving woman, to finally settle down with." She said and kissed my forehead.

I looked to Bella as my mother pulled her into a hug and began whispering to her. Bella's eyes widened as she stared at me. "What do I do?" she mouthed to me.

I shook my head infinitesimally so that she would see.

Emmett clapped a hand down on Jasper's shoulder that also stood there in surprise. He never expected me to pop the question either. After Victoria I had made it pretty clear that I wasn't planning on getting married again. A few drunken family parties, and everyone knew. "Looks like you better start saving up for a ring buddy. You're the only one left!"

Jasper narrowed his eyes at me. "Uh guys," I said. "Bella never actually said yes."

Jake and Vanessa had snuck their way into the kitchen holding Scotty's hands and watched the whole ordeal go down.

"What?" everyone asked in unison.

"Oh come on," I mumbled running my hands through my hair. "Emmett and Rosalie walked in before Bella had a chance to say anything."

Everyone was silent and looked expectantly at Bella. She glanced from all of them to me. "We started dating back in late April right, and its late August now. So almost six months." She sighed and looked at me. "If we can get through all that we have gotten through in these six months, we should be able to handle almost anything." Bella said. "So my answer is yes. I will marry you."

Clapping and squealing resounded throughout the room before a crying baby quieted everyone down. I smiled down at Bella and pulled her close to me, before bending her down backwards, earning me one adorable giggle, and giving her a long kiss earning whistles and "woots" from the various men in the room.


	35. Chapter 35: Epilogue

_**She's All That**_

* * *

_Epilogue_

_EPOV_

"Damn it, man," Jasper said running a hand through his hair. "You just had to go and fucking show me up, didn't you? Going and just popping the question to Bella in front of everyone."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, like I planned on the whole family showing up when I asked her. It was out of the blew, I kind of just blurted it out actually."

"Whatever. But now everyone is just waiting for me to ask Alice. I can't take this much peer pressure." Jasper sighed.

"Quit being such a pussy," I said with a laugh. "You were planning on asking her anyway weren't you?"

Jasper groaned. "Well, yeah, but its different now. It feels like everyone is staring at me,"

"Pussy," Emmett said walking outside onto the porch.

"That's what I said." I mumbled.

"Fine," Jasper said standing up straight. "I'm going to ask her, soon. Your engagement party, how's that?"

"Sounds good to me." I said.

Jasper looked around the room nervously. I smirked; did he really think that he could ask Alice in front of all of my family and friends?

I called everyone's attention to the front of the room where Bella and I were standing. "As you all know, this engagement was sort of a surprise to everyone, including Bella and myself." I looked down to find Bella smiling up at me and I leaned down and kissed her on her rosy red lips. Everyone clapped and whistled. "A very good surprise, and so we just wanted to thank you all for coming over tonight and being able to spend this time with us."

I looked over to Jasper who was rubbing his hands together before building up the courage to come and stand up next to us. "Uh, hi." He said awkwardly. "Edward has been my lifelong best friend, practically a brother, and I just wanted to say congratulations to him. It makes me, us all so happy to see that you found someone just right for you. The someone that you can spend the rest of your life with and be happy.

"Alice," he said turning towards the crowd. "Where are you darlin'?" Alice stepped forward, her face bright pink and full of confusion. "I know we haven't talked about it at all. But I love you; we have been together for four amazing years. I want it all with you. I want you to be mine forever, baby, and if it takes a ring, a piece of paper and a ceremony to prove to the whole world that you're mine…" he said trailing off, before dropping down on one knee. "Mary Alice Brandon, will you marry me?"

The whole room was silent in anticipation. Alice's face was frozen in complete and utter shock, before she shocked all of us by letting out a very loud girlish squeal. "Yes, yes, yes! I would absolutely love to marry you Jasper Whitlock!"

* * *

**1 Year Later**

"And do you Isabella Swan take Edward Cullen to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Bella looked from the pastor into my eyes and said with passion, "I do."

Everything drowned out after that. I took her in, her long mahogany hair pinned up with tendrils curling down, framing her heart shaped face. Her deep chocolate eyes framed by thick black lashes; her slender body accentuated by the white gown that she wore.

Bella, my wife, was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.

"You may now kiss the bride."

I wasted no time pulling her towards me and pressing my lips firmly against hers. It felt as though it was only the two of us there, our family and friends disappeared. I felt her wrap her arms around my neck, teasing my hair there.

Finally we pulled apart and she giggled when we turned towards the audience. Music started playing as we walked down the aisle, friends and family cheering us on, as husband and wife.

* * *

**12 years later**

"Daniel, Scotty get down here!" Bella shouted up the stairs.

Daniel came down first, always the momma's boy. I couldn't believe my little boy was twelve already and in the sixth grade. He was tall for his age with bright green eyes and his mother's dark hair. It stuck out in all different directions like mine though.

"Are we leaving already?" he asked.

"Its six fifteen and we were supposed to be at your grandparents at six." Bella said.

"We are just fashionably late." Scotty said bounding down the stairs. He was eighteen and a giant. With my height and his uncle's muscular build, he was huge. He got a full ride scholarship for football next fall at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Tell your grandmother that," I said. "Come on lets go."

When we got to my parents house everyone was already there. My mother stood in front of us with her hands on her hips. "You're late," she said. Her caramel hair had gray running through it and wrinkles began to form around her eyes.

"Yeah, sorry," I said running a hand through my hair.

"The boys were taking too much time getting pretty." Bella said as our sons stepped in front of us. My mothers face softened as her grandchildren stepped forward.

Bella and I let them hug and walked into the living room. Alice and Jasper were sitting on the couch with their daughter Maerys sitting between them. She was the same age as Daniel and was short and slender, with curling golden blond hair and dark ocean blue eyes.

"Mae!" Daniel said as he walked into the room. She looked up excitedly and bounced over to him. They walked out to the backyard together.

"I think our baby has a girlfriend," Bella whispered in my ear.

"That's my boy." I said with a grin and she elbowed me in the stomach.

"Dad, Bella!" Vanessa called walking in from the kitchen. I turned and saw my daughter, now twenty-seven, stood in the doorway. Her dark hair was grown out again and her face was now sharp and angular. Jacob stood next to her; he looked more mature but he still looked the same as when he was a teenager.

She came up and hugged us. "Its so great to see you guys." She said with a bright smile.

"You too, you look amazing." Bella said.

"Thanks, do you know where Scotty and Daniel are?"

"Scotty is in the living room and Daniel is outside with Mae." I told her.

"Thanks, Emmett, Rosalie and Jace are in the kitchen." She said. "In case you were wondering."

She and Jacob passed us by and went into the living room and we walked into the kitchen. Emmett was sitting on one of the barstools and Rosalie was turned towards the stove. Jace turned around from the sink. He was a year older than Daniel and had light blond hair that curled at the ends and was tall and lean like a swimmer with light blue eyes and tan skin.

"Hey uncle Edward, aunt Bella." He said, his voice starting to get deeper.

Emmett and Rosalie turned towards me. "Perfect timing. Dinners finished."

We all sat down at the large table in the dining room. I looked around at my family and smiled contentedly. Emmett and Scotty were talking football while shoving food in their faces, my mother and wife were discussing book ideas, and Alice and Vanessa were talking about when their next photo shoot would be, Rosalie and Jake were talking cars and Jasper was talking about school with Daniel and Mae.

Life was just where it needed to be.

* * *

**for those of you that have me on author alert (which i much appreciate) i have a few ideas that ive started on and a few running through my head. **

**ill post up here ideas, just to get your opinion on them  
**

**thank you again everyone, i hope you enjoyed this story as much as i enjoyed writing it and hearing all of your wonderful reviews.  
**

**a very special thank you to  
**JayNahNah and NeeNee246 for leaving me the best review(s)

**Till the next story,**

**Bri  
**


	36. Results! Homeless Guy Is Posted!

You all voted and here are the results:

The Homeless Guy in the Penthouse Upstairs : 31 votes

Taking Back the Past : 11 votes.

It was kind of a landslide, lol

So I have the first chapter of The Homeless Guy in the Penthouse Upstairs all done up and it is officially posted! So hurry up and go check it out!

I have two more days of school (Monday and Tuesday - finals, bleh) and then I dont currently have a summer job so hopefully updates will be pretty speedy, but you all know how I am! Especially if I end up getting a job.

See you all soon at the Penthouse ;D I want to know everything that you have to say!

Bri


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